Spirits of Destiny
by the one that will not be named
Summary: Tai dies, but The ancients refuse to let him go so they bring him back as Loewemon.He discoveres that destiny still has some surprises for him. But how will he handle being a dark digimon and what about his friends? 0204 xover, it will focus more on 02
1. Destiny

Auther notes 1: This is my first attempt at a fanfic

2: i'm from Belgium so English isn't my normal language. I'm sorry for any misspelled words or strange sentences.

3: "this is normal speech", 'these are thoughts' and _this means a flashback_

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Spirits of destiny

Chapter 1

Darkness. It surrounded him. How long had he been here?

He didn't know. There was no night or day in this place, al he knew was that it felt like eternity.

He knew he was dead and he knew that this was hell. What else could it be?

As he walked through the void he thought about his life, his friends, his family, his love…

The memories of the day he lost all of these still lingered in his mind.

"_I told you it would be fun."_

"_You're right Tai. It's nice to relax sometimes, to put down those books and enjoy life."_

"_Yeah and we've got something to celebrate to. It's been two years since the new digidestined defeated MaloMyotismon." _

"_Two years, I can't believe it's been so long." Joe said as he took off his glasses and cleaned them._

"_As they say, time waits for no man. Let's go." _

_As both teens headed to the chosen location they didn't notice a being in the shadows watching them._

"_You guys are late, as always!" Matt yelled as he saw them approach._

"_Sorry, I had to get Joe away from his homework!" Tai yelled back._

_As Tai and Joe were making their way to the rest of the group they were tackled by their partners._

"_I'm glad to see you again Agumon." Tai said as he smiled at the dinosaur._

"_Good to see you again Joe." Gomamon said as he shook Joe's hand. _

"_Enjoy it while you still can because the master is coming back." Tai and Joe turned around to see a ShadowWereGarurumon stepping out of the shadows._

"_Great another digimon that wants to take over the world." Joe said as he rolled his eyes_

"_The master has instructed me to get rid of the digidestined before their return."_

'_**Their **__return?'__Tai thought. " Agumon digivolve!"_

"_Right!"_

_**Agumon digivolves to…**_

"_I don't think so." ShadowWereGarurumon said as he jumped over Agumon and went straight for Tai._

_Tai stared right into the blood red eyes of the wolf man as he readied his claws._

_Joe, Agumon, and Gomamon cried out __Tai's name as the creature sunk his claws into his chest._

_As Tai fell to the ground he heard people yelling his name. The last thing Tai saw was Agumon getting deleted as he charged the more powerful ultimate._

That's how he got here.

'It's strange, you'd think that after saving the world twice you'd be allowed into heaven.'

"You're not dead yet Taichi."

"Who's there?" Tai turned around looking for the source of the voice "Show yourself!!"

A strange light filled the dark area. Tai had to shield his eyes. As the light faded and he was able to open his eyes again he noticed a newcomer in his private hell.

"Who are you?" he asked as he walked over to the giant creature.

"I am AncientSphinxmon, legendary warrior of Darkness."

"Okay but what did you mean by that I'm not dead yet."

"The world still needs you. Your biggest task yet lies ahead of you"

"That's great but I'm kinda stuck in here so ask somebody else to do this task." Tai said sarcastically.

"Your destiny is about to unfold." The lion-like creature said as he faded away.

"Great I finally have someone to talk to in god knows how long and he disappears. And what is this crap about "destiny" again, I mean can't they get someone else to save the world."

Tai's head started to spin all of a sudden and he fainted.

Somewhere in the real world.

Kari just stared at the tombstone.

It was a black stone with golden words on it:

**Here lies Taichi Kamiya, Hero, Leader, Friend**

**I won't die as long as someone remembers me**

**Only when I'm forgotten I'll be truly gone.**

Tai's dead affected everyone: Izzy tried to hide behind his computer. He refused to talk to his friends or his parents about it.

TK became very quiet, a shadow of the person he used to be.

Joe actually changed for the better, he now took every chance he had to spend time with his friends.

Seeing Tai die made him realise life's to short for studying all the time.

Sora and Matt had been dating before Tai's death but now they were starting to drift apart, as if Tai was keeping them together

Mimi tried to stay strong for the others, but by doing so she hid away her feelings from everyone.

The new digidestined weren't affected that much by Tai's death. They were sad but most of them hardly knew him.

Except for Davis.

He changed a lot, he wasn't the careless comedian anymore. He became a true leader.

Just like Tai.

Kari placed the flowers she was holding onto the grave. "Tai, I know I ask this every time I come here but why did you leave us? Mom and Dad are breaking down and the gang is starting to drift apart."

She fell to her knees as tears filled her eyes. "Why…"

Somewhere in the Digital World

A motionless figure started to move.

Tai heard some birds chirping. Some very annoying birds.

"Stupid birds, can't a man suffer in peace?"

'Wait a minute.'

Tai opened his eyes. He couldn't believe what he saw.

He saw a blue sky. "I can't believe it. I'm finally out of that place!"

Tai quickly got up and drew in a breath of fresh air.

As he did he smelled the sweet scent of digital flowers.

'But how can I be here? I died, didn't I?

Tai noticed that his voice was different and his body felt strange to him.

Tai looked down at his body and nearly fainted. His entire body was covered in a black and golden armour. His hands were covered in black steel and his chest had a steel lion head on it.

The same was for his shoulders: two lion heads each with a crystal in their jaws.

Tai slammed his fist into a tree out of anger and confusion. The tree turned into a pile of splinters.

Tai fell to his knees in the pile of wood. "What the hell has happened to me!?!?!"

He yelled but it came out as a lion's roar.

"Ok, I have to stay calm" Tai said to himself.

He thought back about what AncientSphinxmon said.

"_The world still needs you. Your biggest task yet lies ahead of you"_

"Why can't destiny choose someone else to do its dirty work?" He asked no one in particular

Tai decided to go find some water. As he moved through the forest he noticed scents he didn't even know existed, he heard sounds he never heard before.

'Maybe being a digimon isn't that bad.' He thought as he found a small river running through the forest.

Tai took off his helmet and looked at his reflection on the water.

His own face looked back at him, the same brown eyes the same mop of hair. The only thing different were two black lines on his cheeks and a mouth full of sharp teeth.

"I should try to find someone I know." Tai picked up his helmet

" I wonder if they'll still recognize me."

"They won't after we're done with you." A voice suddenly said.

Tai took on a defensive stance. "Who's there!? Show yourself!"

Two vilemon came out of the forest.

"Sorry kitty, this is our river. You've got to pay us if you want to drink its water." One of them said.

Tai just stared at them. He remembered them from when he and the others defeated Piedmon.

"What's the matter kitty, are you broke? Don't worry we'll just take your data then." The other continued.

"Nightmare shocker!!" one yelled out, sending a wave of dark energy towards Tai.

Tai allowed his instincts to take over and jumped over the attack.

"Stand still kitty. It'll be a lot easier for the both of us. Nightmare shocker!!"

Again Tai dodged it and charged up his own attack.

"Shadow meteor!!" Tai yelled out as he fired a yellow and black ray of energy.

It hit the vilemon, destroying him in the process.

"So this kitty's got claws." The remaining vilemon said as he watched the data of his companion float away.

"You still have the chance to leave." Tai said as he stared at the demon.

"Demon Darts!!" The vilemon began throwing laser darts at him.

"I'll take that as a no." Tai said as he once again started to dodge the vilemon's attacks.

"Spear of Conviction!" Tai yelled as he summoned a purple cloud which formed into a spear.

Tai took aim and threw the spear.

The vilemon tried to dodge it but failed and was pinned against a tree.

Tai walked up to the evil digimon and took one of the red orbs on his shoulders.

He pointed it at the vilemon.

It gave off a white light which seemed to hurt the creature.

"Dark creature, misled by evil be purified by the power of good!!"

The vilemon's data was sucked into the orb and faded away. Tai was about to place it back as some of the data was released.

The data reformed into a small flying creature. Tai stared at the familiar digimon hovering in front of him.

"Hello." The digimon said. "I'm Patamon. Who are you?"

"Ehh, I'm Tai." Tai said as he looked at the Digimon. Was this the vilemon who tried to kill him? The one he just purified?

While he thought about it, how did he do that?

"Must be part of my destiny…" he said under his breath.

"What?" Patamon asked. "Nothing, nothing." Tai quickly said. "This might be a strange question but were you a Vilemon 5 minutes ago?"

"I don't know, was I?" the digimon stared at Tai with a confused look.

'So he doesn't remember it.' Tai thought.

"Will you be okay by yourself?" He asked.

Patamon looked down. "Well I was hoping I could stick with you for a while. I don't think i know anyone else.

Tai smiled. "Sure it'll be nice to have someone to talk to."

"Hooray!!" Patamon cheered as he flew up and landed on Tai's head. "Where to shall we travel my dear companion?"

Tai looked up to his new friend. "Wherever we're going you're going to have to fly there. I'm not carrying you."

Patamon jumped of his head. "It was worth a shot."

"Let's just get going, okay?" Tai said as he headed back into the forest.

"Wait for me!" Patamon yelled as he flew after the dark warrior.

Miles away from this scene inside a cave were no man dared to set foot, a cloaked creature was talking to a shadow trapped in a crystal prison.

"Get us out of here you fool!" a voice within the crystal said. "We've grown tired of this prison. We want to walk in the Digital World again so we can destroy it and rebuild it as we want to." A other voice said.

"Soon you will spread your mighty wings again and take this world master. But I need more time to find the key. The Warriors hid it very well."

"Then why are you still here!?!" The two voices yelled out at once. "Find it!"

"Yes master." The creature said as he turned around and ran out of the cave.

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Please review, i'll continue when i get a few reviews. no flames please 


	2. Meetings

Auther notes 1: This is my first attempt at a fanfic

2: i'm from Belgium so English isn't my normal language. I'm sorry for any misspelled words or strange sentences.

3: "this is normal speech", 'these are thoughts' and _this means a flashback_

4: i forgot to mention this in the first chapter but this is an AU fic focusing on the 02 series with the legend of 04, so the kids from frontier won't be in this fic though some other characters will.

5: thanks for the reviews!!

Disclaimer: I don't own digimon

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Spirits of destiny

Chapter 2

The sun had been up for an hour and the creatures inhabiting this world started to awaken. Except for a certain Dark warrior and his flying companion. They had awoken early and continued their journey.

"Ok this is confusing, you're saying that you used to be human?"

Tai nodded.

"But not just any human, one of the eight chosen ones that saved the worlds a few years ago?" Tai nodded again. He just finished telling his story to his new friend Patamon.

They had been traveling File Island for a few days now, trying to find Gennai, AncientSphinxmon or anyone else who could help him understand his 'new destiny'.

"I've got a question for you Patamon. Just who is this AncientSphinxmon anyway?"

Patamon landed on a treestump and started to think.

"I don't know the whole story but according to legend there used to be a war between Human-type and Beast-type Digimon. It was a terrible battle and those Digimon nearly destroyed the world. But then Lucemon appeared and stopped the war. He ruled the Digital world but he was corrupted by his own power and almost destroyed the world again. Many digimon stood up to him but none were able to defeat him until the Ancient Warriors appeared.

They defeated Lucemon and sealed him away."

"So you're saying that AncientSphinxmon was one of these ten warriors?" Tai asked.

"Yup, but it's been eighty thousand years since we last heard of him or the other warriors."

"Eighty thousand years??" Tai nearly fell over. "Stupid old geezer."

"Taimon, you shouldn't say that. He saved the world and he saved you remember?"

Tai stared at his arms, covered in black steel. How could he forget that AncientSphinxmon saved him, how he trapped his soul in that place only to give him a body that wasn't his.

"I remember that and stop calling me Taimon, my name is Tai."

"Okay Taimon." Tai sighed. "Let's get something to eat. I'm starving."

"Best idea I've heard today." Patamon responded. "That's what you said about breakfast too." Tai laughed.

Meanwhile in the real world

"Come on TK. We haven't been in the Digital World for months." Kari pleaded.

TK didn't respond. "Look I know that it still hurts but you have to move on, Tai wouldn't have wanted you to mourn over him forever."

Kari knew that Tai wasn't really gone, she knew that he was watching over her so she tried to go on with her life. But the others refused to enter the Digital world. It reminded them to much of Tai.

"Fine I'll come with you." TK finally gave in.

"All right, we'll go after school then." Kari smiled, maybe TK would be his old self again soon.

'Now to get the others to go with us too.' She thought as the bell rang. Both of them made their way to their classes.

Back in the Digital world

Patamon was looking for some fruit while Tai was trying to catch some fish. After searching the trees for something edible he found a tree with some apples growing on it.

"Hooray, I found some!" Patamon flew up to the fruit and started to pull on them, but he couldn't get one of the tree.

"Let's try this an other way." He said as he flew away from the tree. "Boom Bubble!"

He fired a blast of air against the tree, causing it to fall over, pushing a few rocks out of the way in the process. "That wasn't supposed to happen" he said to himself as he examined the damage.

Patamon moved to the place where the tree fell. He picked up one of the apples. "At least it worked."

"What's that?" he asked no one in particular when he noticed a metal disk where the rocks once were.

As Patamon examined the disc, a ray of light came out of it. It slowly became a blur, then a shape took form which eventually formed into a young man.

Meanwhile, Tai was trying to catch some fish. He looked at the water, growing impatient. He had been waiting for some fish to come closer so he could stab it with his spear.

But the fish seamed to know what he was up to and stayed away from him.

One fish didn't notice him and swam closer to the side of the river. Tai readied his spear as he waited for it to be close enough.

Just as he was about to strike he heard someone yell.

"Taimon!!!" Tai lost his concentration and missed the fish, scaring it away.

"Taimon!!!" The voice yelled again. "There's something you should see here!!!"

Tai made his way to the location of the voice.

"Patamon I already told you, my name isn't Taimon. It's…" Tai froze when he saw Patamon standing next to a metal disc with a familiar man floating over it.

"Hello Loewemon or Tai, which one do you prefer? How's life?" Tai nearly attacked the projection but realized it was useless. He looked the man in the eyes. "You wanna know how my life is Gennai? I died, I spent a lot of time in hell and now I'm back and I'm not human anymore. And I am not Lowemon or whatever this form is called. I am Taichi Kamiya, keeper of courage."

Gennai was shocked by his outburst, but he couldn't blame him. Not after all Loewemon, ehh Tai has been through.

Tai continued "I know you had something to do with this Gennai. And I want answers and don't give me that destiny crap like you always do."

"Don't worry Tai, you'll get your answers but not like this. I need to see you in person. Can you come to Infinity Mountain?"

Tai searched the horizon until he saw a huge mountain in the distance. "That's quite a distance away from here. It'll take me a day to get there."

" Good I'll see you there tomorrow at noon okay?" Tai just nodded. "Oh and by the way, you should make a stop at the Primary Village, your friend Agumon was reborn yesterday."

Gennai's image faded away.

"Taimon, who is this Gennai?" Patamon asked still confused about what just happened.

"He helped us save the world a few years back. But I don't know who he really is" Tai stared at the disc where the digital human floated a few minutes ago. "I only know that every time something strange happens, he's usually involved."

"Ohh." Patamon just said though this entire situation gave him a headache.

"Let's go to the Primary Village." Tai said trying to change the subject. "Ok but first…" Patamon picked up one of the apples and took a bite out of it. "I destroyed a tree and some rocks for these so let's eat."

Tai smiled as he took an apple. He hadn't had anything to eat since breakfast and now that he was a digimon his body required more food than humans to function properly.

Tai took off his helmet and bit the apple. He felt some off his energy returning as he ate the fruit. It would keep him going for a while.

"Let's go now, I want to see Agumon again."

"Okay." Patamon responded as they took off to find the village.

After traveling quite a distance they arrived at the Village.

"Wow" Patamon said. "Look at all these Digi-eggs."

Tai looked over the field filled with eggs. 'How on earth am I going to find Agumon? There must be hundreds of them.'

"What are you doing here?" Tai turned around to see Elecmon. "I'm warning you, stay away from those eggs unless you want to end up between them." He threatened.

"We're just looking for our friend." Tai said "He's a Botamon and was reborn here yesterday."

Elecmon looked at him strangely. "The only Botamon that was reborn yesterday was one of the digidestined digimon. How would you know him?"

"Because" Tai took off his helmet. "I'm Tai, leader of the old digidestined.

Elecmon recognized the face. "But you … but you can't… how can you?" he muttered before he decided to take a nap.

Patamon looked at the motionless digimon. "That went better then I expected."

"At least he didn't attack us." Tai said as he picked the rookie up.

He took Elecmon to the river running next to the Primary Village and threw some water on his face.

This woke him up again. "Whoa, what happened?" he asked still disoriented.

"You fainted." Tai said calmly. "After you saw my face."

Elecmon pulled himself to his feet, looked at Tai, rubbed his eyes and looked again. He couldn't believe what he saw. Tai, the one who died a few months ago stood in front of him, wearing a black armor. He had one of his trademark smiles on his face though his teeth were pointier than he could remember.

"Tai?" Elecmon asked.

"In the flesh, more or less." Tai responded as he put on his helmet again.

"But how can you still be alive? And what happened to you?"

"Well…" he started. "That's a long story and I don't know the details yet. I still need to ask Gennai about it."

"Did he have anything to with this?" Elecmon asked, still not believing his eyes.

"Probably." Was Tai's response.

"Do the other digidestined know you're back?"

"Not yet, I'll tell them when I'm ready. So don't tell anyone about me, okay?"

"No problem. Not that I would be able to tell them, most of them haven't been here in months."

"What? How come?" Tai was baffled.

"Well, after you died the digidestined came here and build a monument for you and we haven't seen them since. Except for Kari and the new digidestined."

This confused Tai. 'Why don't they come here anymore?'

As if Elecmon heard his question he continued. "It's as if this world reminds them to much of you."

Tai remained quiet. "Well let's go find Agumon." Elecmon said trying to change the subject.

"Yeah." Tai said while he turned his attention to Patamon, who had been watching the fish in the river the entire time. "You coming?" Patamon quickly tore his eyes of the fishes.

"Let's go!" he said while taking off towards the village. 'That kid's got way to much energy' Tai thought as he and Elecmon chased the flying rookie.

At the same time in the real world. School had ended and Kari, Tk, Gatomon and Patamon were ready to go to the Digital World. Even though Kari had to remind TK about it. Otherwise he would have gone home again like all the other times he promised to go.

"Ready?" The two digimon nodded while TK let out a silent "yeah"

Kari and TK aimed their digivices at the screen and entered the Digital World.

Both of them ended up lying on the ground while their digimon landed just fine.

"You've got to learn me how to land properly" Kari said as she cleaned the dust of her clothes. "I don't think so, it's way too much fun to see you land like that." Gatomon replied.

All of them started to laugh at this, except TK. Memories of that dreaded day returned to him.

Kari noticed this and took TK's hand and squeezed it gently. " Are you ok?" she asked, already knowing the answer.

"I'm fine." He responded, forcing back a tear. Kari pulled on his hand. "Come on, lets go to the Primary Village." She knew that he and Elecmon would be glad to see each other again.

They took off but the digimon stayed behind a bit.

"So how are you feeling about been back in the Digital world?" Gatomon asked.

"It's great to be back but I'm worried about TK. He's been very depressed lately but maybe he'll feel better now that we're back." Patamon said with a worried look on his face.

"I hope so." Was all Gatomon said before she and Patamon followed the humans.

Meanwhile at the village.

"What do you mean you don't know where he is?!?" Tai yelled at the red creature. "Aren't you supposed to take care of them and keep an eye on where they go?"

"Hey I can't be everywhere at once!" Elecmon yelled back.

"Mon, Mon this isn't helping." Patamon said trying to break the two up before something bad would happen. "Let's just split up and we'll find him in no time."

"Fine." Both of them said. Patamon and Elecmon went one way while Tai went the other way.

'Ok how on earth am I going to find Agumon between all these babies.' He thought as he walked up to the tiny creatures.

"Hello." He said, trying not to scare the kids. "Have you seen an Agumon, well he's a Botamon now, around here?"

The small digimon looked up at him. They were scared of the creature towering over them.

'Oh crap' Tai knew what was going to happen now.

One of them started to cry. Others around him followed.

"No please don't cry." Tai said as he picked up one of the babies. "I'm not going to hurt you."

The Poyomon he picked up stopped crying and looked in his eyes. Before crying even harder.

"Great, just great." Tai mumbled.

Meanwhile Kari and TK arrived at the entrance of the village.

"Come on TK, we haven't seen Elecmon and the babies in ages."

TK didn't respond. He just followed her.

They just followed the path when Gatomon suddenly stopped. She turned her ears towards the direction of a strange sound.

"Do you hear that?"

"Hear what?" Kari asked.

"This way." Gatomon said before she ran off. "Gatomon wait!" Kari yelled as she chased after the cat with TK and Patamon behind her.

As Gatomon ran towards the source of the sound the others heard it to. Crying.

'I hope nothing bad has happened to the babies. TK wouldn't be able to handle that.' Kari thought as she struggled to keep up.

Eventually they came to where Tai was still trying to calm the babies.

"What are you doing to those digimon!?!" Gatomon yelled out.

Tai recognized that voice. He turned around, still holding the Poyomon and froze when he saw the owner of that voice.

'Oh crap, if she's here then Kari must be too.'

"Would you believe me if I said that I'm doing nothing to them?" Tai responded. 'She can't find out who I am. Not yet, I need answers first.'

"No" Gatomon said as Kari, TK and Patamon reached them. "Yikes, what is that thing?" was the first that Kari said.

"That thing is Ta.. eh… Loewemon" Tai hated being called a 'thing' and he hated calling himself Loewemon even more.

"What were you doing to those Digimon?" TK suddenly said. Everyone including Tai was shocked by the anger in his voice. "I said: what were you doing to them?!"

"Nothing I just needed some information." Tai said as he tried to avoid looking into TK's eyes.

"Then why are they crying?" Patamon asked, still shocked at how TK reacted.

"They're afraid of me for some reason." He replied to the doppelganger of his newest companion.

"I don't believe you, you're just one of those Digimon that bully those weaker then them." TK said, shacking with anger.

'Whoa, what happened to TK?' Tai thought. He wasn't like this back then…

"Patamon chase this evil back to the hole he crawled out of."

"Gatomon, help him."

Both Digimon nodded.

**P****atamon Digivolves to… Angemon**

**Gatomon Digivolves to… Angewomon**

"This isn't good"

* * *

I know it isn't very good but the next chapter will have some more action in it 

Please review and no flames please. i'll continue when i get some reviews.


	3. Changes

Auther notes 1: This is my first attempt at a fanfic

2: i'm from Belgium so English isn't my normal language. I'm sorry for any misspelled words or strange sentences.

3: "this is normal speech", 'these are thoughts', _this means a flashback and_** i gave Tai's digimon side a voice so: "this is Tai's digimon side talking" **or **'thinking'**

4: this is an AU fic focusing on the 02 series with the legend of 04, so the kids from frontier won't be in this fic though some other characters will.

5: to Fruitloop Trooper: thanks for the tips, i'll try to work on my character development.

Disclaimer: I don't own digimon

* * *

Spirits of destiny

Chp 3

"This isn't good" Tai said as the angels took flight. He braced himself as Angemon readied his attack.

"Hand of Fate!"

Using his Sphinx Guard Shield Tai protected himself and the Poyomon he was still holding, against Angemon's attack.

"You idiot!" He shouted at the angel, who was preparing his next attack "Can't you see I'm still holding this guy?!?"

Angemon flinched when he noticed that. This gave Tai the chance to put the Poyomon down. Then he quickly ran away.

"Why are you running, afraid to fight someone your own size?" TK yelled at him.

'No, just trying to lead this battle away from the babies.' Tai thought as he came to a field.

He quickly checked for any other baby Digimon and found none. "Good, no innocents here." He mumbled.

Tai turned his attention to the ones chasing him. "Here we can fight without worrying about the innocent bystanders."

'Why is he concerned about the other digimon, isn't that our job?' Angewomon thought.

"Hand of Fate!" Tai blocked the attack again. he had seen Angemon and Angewomon fight dozens of times so he knew everything about their attacks.

"Heaven's Charm" Tai jumped out of the way and watched the cross of light pass him. His digimon side took control and started to fight back.

"**My turn."** Tai fought against the voice in his head telling him to destroy her.

He thought about what happened the first time he allowed his digimon side to take control.

He still remembered what he did to that Vilemon. The thought that he destroyed a digimon that easily made him sick.

"**Shadow Meteor!"** A beam of pure darkness was fired from his chest. It made its way to Angewomon who quickly moved out of the way, though the attack singed one of her wings.

Tai winced at the smell of burning flesh. He felt horrible for hurting someone he saw as a friend. But his instincts kept telling him that the angel was his enemy and had to be destroyed.

"Angewomon are you okay?" Kari asked her partner. "I'm fine." She said even though she felt the pain spreading through her wings, paralyzing them and forcing her to land.

Angemon landed in front of Tai and summoned his Angel Staff.

Tai threw his shield on the ground, which disappeared in a cloud of smoke and called forth his Spear of Conviction.

Angewomon readied her arrow, pulled back the string of her bow and waited for a clear shot

Tai blocked Angemon's first attack and countered it by striking his ribs with the dull side of the spear.

This caused Angemon to be pushed back and gave Tai the chance to hit his legs, immobilising him. As Angemon fell to his knees Tai pointed the sharp edge of the spear at the fallen angel's neck.

He was about to deliver the finishing blow when Tai finally regained control over his body.

'No I can't kill him.'

'**You have to or else he'll kill you'**

'But he's on my side.' Tai argued against himself.

Tai backed away as he fought against his instincts telling him to pierce the angel's neck. To finish him off.

'**He isn't. He, TK, Angewomon and your baby sister are trying to destroy you.'**

'They just don't know it's me'

'**They will never believe you. To them you're dead, remember?'**

'Shut up!'

While Tai was fighting his inner battles Angemon pulled himself to his feet and hit the dark warrior in the chest, knocking him back a bit.

This was the moment Angewomon waited for. "Celestial Arrow" she yelled as she fired the arrow of light towards Tai.

The arrow hit Tai in his right shoulder. Its light burned into his flesh, the pain forced Tai's human side away, allowing his other side to take control again as Tai couldn't fight it anymore.

Tai pulled the arrow out of his shoulder and snapped it in two.

"**That wasn't very nice wench. You'll pay for that."**

Tai's human side tried to regain control but his inner digimon was pissed off and wanted revenge.

He summoned all his energy for a huge display of power. He surrounded himself with a bright light.

"**Loewemon ****digivolves to… JagerLoewemon."**

"Oh crap!"

"He digivolved!"

A huge black and golden armoured lion had taken Tai's place.

"**Ebony Blast!"** Tai yelled, firing a orb of dark energy towards Angewomon.

She tried to move away but her wings still paralysed from Tai's first attack. As it nearly hit her Angemon pushed her out of the way, causing him to take the blow. As he was thrown through the air he dedigivolved to Tokomon and was caught by TK.

"You okay buddy?" TK asked the wounded digimon in his arms.

"Never better." Tokomon said.

"Angewomon!" Kari suddenly yelled. "Get away from there now! He's too strong"

"Right" Angewomon responded as she ran from the lion.

"**Going somewhere?"** Tai quickly jumped in front of the angel and the two humans, blocking their way.

Meanwhile somewhere else in the village.

"So…"Patamon started. "How can you tell which one is the Botamon we're looking for?"

"That's easy, we just ask them." Elecmon responded.

He moved to a small group of Botamon. "Who of you used to be an Agumon?"

Three of the black blobs hoped up and down.

"Okay and which one of you three saved the world a few times?"

One of them kept on hopping while the others moved away.

"Told you it was easy." Elecmon said with a smug grin as he picked up the digimon.

"There's someone here to see you." Patamon said to the small digimon in Elecmon's arms.

Botamon blinked a few times. 'Why would anyone come for me, it's my fault that Tai…

Tears formed in his eyes.

Elecmon noticed this and spoke to him in a calm voice.

"Don't worry, he'll be glad to see you again."

'He?' Botamon's ears perked at this.

"Let's go find Tai before he does something stupid." Elecmon said to Patamon.

Botamon cried at the mentioning of Tai's name.

Elecmon realised what he had done. "Listen Botamon, Tai isn't dead. He's here looking for you."

Botamon stopped crying. 'Tai is alive but how, I saw him die…

"I have to warn you, he looks a bit different." Patamon said to the blob. "So don't freak out. He's still your friend."

The trio took off.

As they moved through the village they heard cries of pain. Coming from a nearby field.

"Oh no" Elecmon handed Botamon to Patomon and ran towards the field with Patamon flying after him.

"**Ebony Blast!"** They arrived at the scene to see a lion cyborg blasting an Angewomon who was shielding two humans.

"Who the hell is that!?!" Patamon yelled. Tai turned to the source of the sound.

"**What's the matter Patamon, don't you recognize me anymore?"**

"I eh…" he just stared at the lion. Ruthlessly continuing his assault on the angel. He recognized those eyes. 'Taimon…'

Elecmon too realized who the creature was.

"Stop it Loewemon, they're the digidestined, remember?" Elecmon remembered not to use his human name.

"**They attacked me. So they must die."**

Kari listened to the conversation between the two digimon when Angewomon was hit by an other blast of dark energy, causing her to dedigivolve to Salamon.

Kari held on to the kitten tight as she looked at the dark digimon who was out to destroy them

'No, it can't end like this.'

"Super thunder strike!" Elecmon saw no other solution than to attack the Ultimate. He knew that he couldn't defeat him but he could buy the digidestined some time.

Tai aimed another attack towards the humans but missed when Elecmon hit him. The attack soared towards the sky, eventually disappearing.

He turned towards the Rookie, growling at him.

"I don't know what's gotten into you but I know you don't want to hurt them."

"**You don't know anything"**

Tai's human side made advantage of the confusion and was beginning to regain control, fuelled by the need to save his friends from himself.

'**You can't allow them to live Tai.'**

'I can't allow you to kill them. They're still my family.'

Tai began to regain control over his body.

'**If you let them live they'll hunt you down later' **his instincts argued.

'That's a risk I'm willing to take.'

He turned to Kari, who was still trembling with fear. Their eyes met for a split-second and Kari recognized his eyes from somewhere.

Then Tai turned around and ran.

'Taimon' Patamon dropped the baby he was still holding into Elecmon's arms and chased his friend.

As Tai ran he thought about what he nearly did.

'I'm a monster.'

Tai just kept running, not paying attention to the branches in his way.

'I nearly killed them. My friends and family.'

He moved swiftly between the trees, ignoring the flapping of wings and pleas coming from behind him.

'What if it happens again? What if I can't regain control then? What if...'

"Taimon!" Patamon yelled as his wings became sore. Chasing Tai had drained his energy.

"Please stop running!" Patamon yelled as he landed, having to rest his wings.

Tai finally decided to listen to the rookie and stopped.

* * *

I hope that this chapter is better then the last one. please review. 


	4. Friend

Auther notes 1: This is my first attempt at a fanfic

2: i'm from Belgium so English isn't my normal language. I'm sorry for any misspelled words or strange sentences.

3: "this is normal speech", 'these are thoughts', _this means a flashback and_** i gave Tai's digimon side a voice so: "this is Tai's digimon side talking" **or **'thinking'**

4: this is an AU fic focusing on the 02 series with the legend of 04, so the kids from frontier won't be in this fic though some other characters will.

Disclaimer: I don't own digimon

* * *

Spirits of destiny

Chp 4

"Stay away from me." Tai said.  
Patamon stared at him. "Why?"

"I don't want to hurt you." Tai continued.

"Taimon. You're my friend. I know that you won't hurt me. Patamon said as he moved closer to Tai.

"How can you be so sure?" Tai said as he stepped back a bit. "Those humans were my friends and if Elecmon hadn't stopped me I would have killed them."

Tears formed in Tai's eyes. He tried to wipe them away but he had no hands anymore. Only paws with razor-sharp nails.

"I don't know why…" Patamon said as he reached Tai and put a reassuring paw on Tai's paw.

"I just am."

Tai stared at the little creature. "Thanks"

"For what?" Patamon asked.

"For being there for me." Tai said as a smile formed on his face.

"No problem, we're friends, remember?"

"Let's go back to the village." Tai said. "Did you find Agumon?" he continued as he remembered what he was doing before the fight.

"We did." The rookie replied.

"Let's go then." Tai took off.

"Wait for me!!" Patamon yelled as he took flight. And fell down after a few seconds. Chasing Tai had drained his strength.

Tai turned around and walked back. "Are you ok?"

He looked down at the panting rookie.

"I know I said that I won't carry you." Tai started. "But I'll make an exception this time."

"Thanks Taimon." Patamon said as he flew up and landed on Tai's back.

"Just don't get used to it." Tai said as he took off towards the village.

Meanwhile Elecmon was still confused about what had happened. One moment Tai was looking for his friend and the next he digivolves and nearly blasted his friends into oblivion. This entire situation confused him.

"So what exactly happened?"

"Well we arrived here and found that guy who was scaring some baby digimon." Kari started.

"So we decided to attack him and chase him away." TK continued. "And then he went nuts and nearly killed us."

Elecmon was baffled. How could they attack someone like that?

"Didn't he say he was looking for his friend?"

Kari thought about their conversation with the creature.

"He mentioned something about looking for information. He never said anything about his friend."

Meanwhile Salamon and Tokomon had moved away from the humans.

"There was something odd about that guy." Salamon started.

"What do you mean?" Tokomon asked with a hint of confusion in his voice.

"Well, he seemed…" Salamon had trouble finding the right word. "Familiar. As if I had met him before."

This confused Tokomon even more. "I don't get it"

Salamon rolled her eyes. "Nevermind, it's probably nothing."

She moved towards the humans.

"Oh and before I forget." She gave Tokomon a quick kiss on the forehead. "That's for saving me from that blast."

Tokomon blushed and fainted.

Salamon just smiled at the motionless white rodent and ran over to the humans, where Elecmon had just finished telling the (fake) story about how Loewemon came here to find his friend who was reborn after a incident with a few evil digimon.

"Great, just great." TK said. "So we attacked an innocent digimon."

Kari stared at the ground. "So that means we're the evil ones this time."

Elecmon hated lying to them. But he had no other choice, he promised it to Tai. And even if he did tell the truth, they wouldn't believe him. Even he still had trouble believing it, even though he saw Tai's face…

"Hey Elecmon" Salamon joined them. "Who's the little one you're holding?"

Elecmon nearly forgot he was still holding Botamon. "Oh. Well. He's…"

He tried to come up with something to hide the truth from her but she moved closer and sniffed the little black blob.

"He smells kinda familiar." Salamon said. "Wait a minute…"

'Oh crap' went through Elecmon's mind.

"Agumon is that you?" the blob managed to wiggle his way out of Elecmon's arms and tried to get away.

He didn't want to face them. He still felt guilty about Tai, even if he was still alive.

Salamon chased him. "It really is you! You don't know how happy I am to see you again!"

Kari noticed how Botamon tried to get away from them. 'He must feel guilty about Tai…' She quickly picked him up. He tried to get free but she held a strong grip on him.

"Agumon, it wasn't your fault. You did your best to protect Tai and that was all I could ask from you."

Tears formed in his yellow eyes as Kari held him tight.

TK just stared at that scene. Part of him was angry at the blob, because he couldn't protect their friend. But the more rational part of him knew that Agumon tried his best.

"Hey Elecmon. Why did you have Agumon with you anyway?" TK suddenly asked.

" Well I.. eh.. he just hatched. Yeah that's it. He hatched a few minutes ago" Elecmon sought for an excuse.

"Okay…" TK said, not really believing the rookie.

He moved over to Tokomon, who was still out, and picked him up.

'Wow, he must have been real tired.'

"Can we go now?" he asked Kari. He felt awful about today and didn't want to stay any longer.

Kari looked at her friend. "Okay, we should head back before it gets dark."

'Why did this had to happen. Just when I get TK to come here something like this happens. I just hope he'll be ok.'

She turned to Elecmon. "I'll take Botamon with me if that's okay with you."

'If I refuse they'll get suspicious and if I don't keep him here Tai's gonna freak! Damn decisions…'

He sighed. "Fine, take him with you."

The group moved towards the exit of the village.

"Bye Elecmon!" all of them yelled.

"Bye!" He waited till they were out of sight and sighed again. "Tai's gonna kill me when he finds out about this."

He then went to check up on the other Baby digimon who needed attention.

Tai was walking at a calm pace through the forest. He was exhausted.

As his companion was asleep he didn't have anyone to talk to. So he thought.

About his new life, about his new form. About what he would tell his friends and family

About the monster he became…

'Should I tell them or not…' he thought as he slowly moved over a few rocks, trying not to wake his passenger.

'Do I even want to tell them, do I want to disrupt their lives? Again? I mean: I've been dead for months. They probably moved on and...'

"This is really confusing…"

As he walked through the forest he felt his energy drain away. 'I better find someplace to rest before…'

He glowed for a second and turned back into Loewemon.

'…before that happens.'

Tai was lying face down on the dirt.

"At least I've got my hands back. And walking on all fours was getting a bit too comfortable…"

Patamon fell off his back as he changed but was still asleep. Tai stood up, gently picked Patamon up and made his way through the forest trying to find some shelter.

Eventually he found a cave. It wasn't very large but big enough to hold them both.

He placed Patamon on the ground and looked at him. He still didn't understand why the rookie stayed with him after what he did.

He took off his helmet and sat down against the wall of the cave.

'At least tomorrow I'll know why this happened to me and then I'll see Agumon again.'

He then curled up and fell asleep.

Meanwhile Kari and TK arrived at the TV set and entered the real world.

TK hadn't said a word the entire walk to the portal. He was lost in his own thoughts.

"TK" Kari tried to get him to talk.

No response.

"TK, please say something."

Still he didn't respond.

Kari opened the door of the computer lab. Izzy had given her the key, though he never told her how he got it.

TK followed her and she locked it again.

Then he finally said something.

"We shouldn't have gone."

"What do you mean?" she was confused.

TK just walked down the hallway. "We could have died today." He continued.

Kari just starred at him. "What if we died today. What would it have done to our friends? Our family?"

Kari knew he was right. Her parents wouldn't survive it if something happened to her. They had already lost one child.

And their friends… most of them still had trouble moving on after Tai.

TK left the school as Kari was still thinking about his words.

"Kari" a voice suddenly said making her snap back to reality. "Kari can we go home now? I'm tired." Kari looked down at the puppy.

"Sure" she said as she picked Salamon up with her right arm as she held a sleeping Botamon in her left arm.

The sun had set and Kari walked through the dark streets of Odaiba. She was still thinking about that digimon. 'There was something about his eyes…'

She arrived at her apartment and headed up the stairs.

'Something familiar'

She put Salamon down and opened the door.

"I'm home" she said as she entered. "And I brought someone with me."

* * *

As always: review and no flames please 


	5. Nightmare

Sorry it took so long to update, I've had a lot of trouble with this chapter but with the help of some coffee and a lot of Dragonforce I finally managed to write this.

* * *

Spirits of destiny

Chapter 5

Tai was dreaming, about what had happened that day. Even in his dreams the memories didn't leave him alone.

But it weren't the memories that troubled him.

Today's events could have had a different ending. The fact that he could have killed his friends, the fact that it felt so natural to kill since he became Loewemon.

It made him sick.

He tried not to think about it but it was hard to concentrate on anything else if you're wandering around the dead streets of Odaiba. Even though it was just a figment of his imagination…

'I've become a monster.' Tai suddenly said. He knew that it was true. The fear in Kari's eyes told him so…

'_You are a monster Taichi.' _Tai heard a familiar voice say. He turned around to see his sister standing there. Tai couldn't believe his eyes.

'Kari' he said as he moved towards her.

She backed away. _'Stay there Tai. Don't come any closer you freak._

Tai stopped in his tracks.

'But Kari…'

'_You __attacked me Tai, remember?'_

'I'm sorry about that. I lost control' Tai muttered as he stepped back.

'_What if it happens again Tai?.'_ An other voice behind Tai said. He turned around to see TK standing there.

'_What if next time we see each other you rip out our throats like you were going to do today?__ What if you lose control again?'_

The image of Odaiba shattered and was replaced by a black void. The same happened to TK and Kari. The shards formed into two other people.

Tai heard Sora's voice. _'Why? I thought you were our friend, our leader, the one we all trusted'_

Matt continued. _'How could you Tai? You nearly killed my little brother and your little sister. If you ever come near them again, I swear to God I'll hunt you down to the ends of the earth.'_

Tai tried to ignore the voices, but it was so hard.

Just like the two before them so did Matt and Sora shatter. This time they formed into one person.

'_I cant believe that I used to look up to you. You used to be my role model.' _Davis said as he took off the pair of goggles Tai had given him. He threw them at Tai. They shattered as they hit the ground.

'_Friendship doesn't mean anything to you anymore, does it? You're just a fiend, a freak.'_ Davis's voice came from everywhere around Tai.

'I am not a freak!!' Tai roared as he slammed his fist into Davis's stomach.

He heard a cry of pain, but it wasn't coming from Davis.

It came from a girl. A girl with brown hair stood in front of Tai. Just where Davis stood a few seconds ago.

Blood was dripping of Tai's fist.

'_You're not, I know you're not…'_ was all she said before she collapsed and disappeared.

'No, Mimi!' Tai yelled as he fell to his knees. 'What the hell is going on here?!' he yelled to no one.

'**This is what will happen next time.'** A voice coming from behind Tai said.

'What?' Tai asked still shacking from what he did to Mimi. The blood still dripping from his hands...

'**This will happen because you were to weak to finish them off Tai. They're not your friends anymore. The darkness has no friends.'**

Tai turned around to see JagerLoewemon standing there. He recognized the voice.

'You… You're the one who attacked my friends…' Tai managed to say.

'**Actually you attacked them, I am just a part of you. Your more intelligent side if I say so myself. I protect you from yourself. Your body is stronger then most digimon but you lack the spirit to fight.'**

Tai couldn't believe what he heard. He called attacking friends protecting himself?

'**And if you lack that you will surely die.'** He continued. '**That's why I give you a push in the right direction every once in a while.'**

'Shut up.' Tai suddenly said. 'And get the hell out of here.'

'**Sorry, I can't. I am a part of you, remember?'**

'So you keep saying. But you're not. I would never try to hurt my friends. And this show you just performed, that's never gonna happen. My friends would never do that'

'**If you say so…'** JagerLoewemon turned around and walked away

'**I will be here tomorrow and the day after that and the day after that and so on, because I am a part of you Tai. Keep that in mind.**

Tai watched him disappear. As he stared at his hand the blood dissapeared. As if it had never been there.

'Great just great. I just hope Gennai has an explanation for this.' He said to himself .

As Tai slept someone in the real world was still up.

Kari was lying in bed. Her parents had a bit of trouble accepting the fact that Botamon would be staying with them but they allowed it. They knew that Tai would have wanted them to take care of Botamon.

But that wasn't what kept her awake. She just couldn't help but wonder who the person behind those eyes was.

"I knew those eyes. If only I could remember…"

She stood up and walked over to her desk.

She picked up a frame. It contained a picture of her, Tai and all the other digidestined and digimon.

It was taken at last years reunion.

Kari had kept the picture around. It reminded her of better times.

"Tai, I miss you. Why did you have to go?" she asked the picture, knowing that she would never get an answer to that question.

"Kari, are you ok?" a voice suddenly said. Kari turned around and saw a cat-like digimon looking up to her.

"I'm fine." She said trying to mask her emotions.

She picked up Salamon and got back in bed.

"Let's just get some sleep now."

"Okay" Salamon said as she closed her eyes and fell asleep. Her energy had been drained by the darkness in Loewemon's attack so she really needed the rest.

Kari just stared at the ceiling, trying to fall asleep. She listened to Salamon's steady breathing an Botamon's snoring. She didn't understand how a creature that small could make such a noise.

Eventually her eyelids grew heavy and she too fell asleep

* * *

It's not very good or very long. I think I had a case of writer's block. I hope next chapter will be beter. 

As always: read and review


	6. Acceptance

Don't own so don't sue.

* * *

Spirits of destiny

Chapter 6

Tai woke up to the sound of birds. "Stupid birds." He said as he stood up. He looked around in the cave. His companion was still asleep.

Tai's thought turned to his dream. 'Would they do that? Turn their backs on me?' He thought as he went outside and towards a nearby tree. 'No, they would never do that.'

He picked a few apples from the tree. He was starting to get sick of eating only fruit and fish. But since cheeseburgers don't grow on trees he just ate some of them and took the rest back to the cave. Patamon had finally awoken.

"So you're finally awake." Tai said as he threw an apple to the rookie.

"And it looks like you're back to normal." He responded as he caught the apple and took a bite out of it.

Tai didn't respond. 'Normal, I'll never be normal again. But: what is normal?'

"Taimon" a voice said, making him snap back to reality. "What was it like? To be an ultimate?" Patamon asked as he finished his apple and took a second.

"It felt…" Tai tried to find the right words to describe the feeling. "Horrible. It was as if I wasn't in charge anymore. As if something inside me took over."

"Oh…" Patamon said. He didn't know what it felt like. To lose control over who you are. He knew that he used to be a Vilemon, but that wasn't the same.

Tai looked at the sun. "Gennai asked us to get to Infinity Mountain by noon. So let's go."

He stared at the mountain in the distance. "How on earth are we gonna get there in time?"

'**You know how'** a voice in his head said. 'Shut up' He yelled at the voice. It didn't respond.

Tai knew what his other side meant.

"I hate to say it but he's right. There's no other way" Tai said to himself.

"Huh?" Patamon said, not really paying attention to what Tai was talking about.

Tai tried to recall the feeling he had yesterday. The surge of energy he felt as he digivolved. But without the anger this time.

He took a deep breath and yelled

**Loewemon digivolves to… **

Tai fell on all fours as the energy spread through his body. He felt his armor shifting and forming into different shapes and sizes.

**JagerLoewemon!**

He didn't like the fact that he walked around on four legs or that he had a tail but if he wanted to travel fast this was the only way.

But at least this time he was in control. For now.

"Hop on." He said to Patamon with a deeper voice then he had as Loewemon.

The rookie hopped on his back. "You said that you weren't gonna carry me anymore." Patamon said as he grabbed hold of one of Tai's armoured plates.

"I lied" Tai said as he took off.

Tai ran. Through forests and over cliffs. Infinity Mountain came closer with every passing second. He had never felt more alive than now. The look on the rookie digimon's faces as he passed them. The wind on his face. It felt great. Even though he knew that it shouldn't be like this. His mind was still human. But the line between human and digimon was starting to fade.

'**You're enjoying this aren't you?'**a voice spoke to him in his head. 'What if I am?' Tai snapped back.

'**That's good, it means you're finally accepting that you ARE JagerLoewemon and no longer Tai.'**

'I'm not accepting anything. I am human. I know that.'

'**Are you sure about that?'** Tai didn't respond. He was starting to doubt it lately. Maybe his other side was right maybe he was accepting the fact that he wasn't human anymore. Maybe…

"Taimon watch out for that tree!!" Patamon yelled, making Tai snap back to reality.

But it was to late. Tai crashed into the tree. He hadn't seen in because of the rambling of his digimon side.

The impact slowed him down a bit but it wasn't enough to stop him. He hit the tree with his shoulder. But there was enough power in that to make the tree just snap in two. Tai stopped to see what damage he made… only to get hit on the head by the tree.

He felt the tree shatter as it hit him. It fell of him, luckily without hitting Patamon He felt a light stinging on his feline-like head but that was it. If he was human he would've died.

But he didn't. His frail skin was replaced by a tough combination of skin and steel. His hands replaced by claws that could easily rip a man apart.

It started to sink in that he couldn't be human anymore.

But did he even want to be human again? Humans are weak creatures. Unable to defend themselves without the use of steel and fire.

"Taimon are you ok?" Patamon asked. He was starting to get worried. Tai hadn't said anything for a few minutes.

"I'm fine." Tai said but Patamon knew that he wasn't telling the truth. He knew that Tai was keeping something from him.

"Taimon. I'm your friend. You can tell me what's on your mind." Patamon said, trying to make Tai talk about it.

Tai sighed. "It's just… if I had been human I would have been crushed by that tree. But as JagerLoewemon that tree is the same as a twig… I think I'm finally starting to realise that I'm not human anymore or that I'll never be a human again. I don't even know if I want to be human again."

Patamon didn't know what to say. Was it good or bad that Taimon was accepting that he was a digimon?

"But for now the only thing I want are answers. Let's get to Infinity Mountain."

Tai stepped over the remains of the tree and Patamon prepared himself for another bumpy ride.

Meanwhile in the human world. Kari's first lessons of the day were passing very slowly. Miss Shibayama 's history lessons were very uninteresting. But the reason she couldn't focus on ancient events and numbers was TK.

He didn't want to talk about what had happened yesterday. The incident was killing him, she could feel that but unless he wanted to talk about she couldn't help him.

'_Trriinnggg' _

The noise she and the other students were waiting for finally came.

She quickly packed her books and moved to the door. TK had already left. On her way out she passed Davis' seat. He had fallen asleep. Again. She never understood how he could fall asleep during every lesson AND get away with it.

Kari smiled at the snoring teen. "There are some things that will never change." She said as she gave Davis a push to wake him up.

"Julius Caesar conquered the Belgica in 57 BC!" he yelled as he woke up before realising that class already ended.

"We studied European History last month Davis. You should try to stay awake next time, you might learn something" She said as Davis took his books and made his way to the door.

"Serious, you need to stay awake in class, else you'll never pass your exams."

"I'll try next time, okay?" Davis said as they arrived outside. Recess only lasted ten minutes and they had already wasted three of them.

Kari looked around for TK. She saw him standing on their usual spot, along with Cody, Yolei and Ken.

"Hey guys, what's up?" Davis said as he and Kari joined their friends.

"Oh nothing." Yolei said. "Except: I've got tickets for Matt's gig tonight!!"

Kari didn't pay much attention to Yolei's speech about Matt's band. She was worried about TK. "TK, are you ok?" She asked the digidestined of hope.

"I'm fine." TK responded but Kari didn't believe him "Are you sure? If you want to talk about yesterday…"

"I don't want to talk about it." He snapped at her and took off.

"Whoa, did I miss something?" Ken said as TK passed him.

"Well" Kari started. "Yesterday we went to the Digital world and something happened."

"What!!" Davis was starting to freak out. "You went to the Digital world without telling any of us? I thought we had agreed that we would inform the others when you go there."

"I forgot to tell you." Kari said as she stared at the ground.

"So what happened?" an other voice said. Kari looked up to Cody. Last years he had quite a growth spurt and now he was taller then Davis.

"We encountered a digimon and we attacked it. We thought he was threatening the baby digimon in Primary Village. But he was just looking for his friend."

"So you attacked an innocent digimon?" Ken asked. "Yes, we overreacted and we nearly got killed. And TK seems to have a lot of trouble with it, but he won't admit it."

'_Trriinnggg' _

The dreaded sound came again and all students turned towards their classes.

"We'll talk about this later. Oh and here." Yolei handed Kari a ticket. "It's tonight at seven." She said before she took off.

Kari quickly pocketed the ticket and walked to her own class.

* * *

As always read & review. And thanks for all the reviews. 

To Fruitloop Trooper: I like your idea but I don't think that I'll use it. I already have a story line for this fic and I don't think I can fit nine other characters in it. But thanks anyway.


	7. In memorian

Don't own so don't sue.

And this chapter was pretty hard so I'm sorry if it's not so good.

* * *

Spirits of destiny

Chapter 7

Tai finally arrived at the bottom of Infinity mountain. And he was on time. There was just one problem.

"Taimon I don't feel so good." Came a small voice from on his back.

Tai turned his head to see a green Patamon on his back.

He crouched down to let the rookie get of his back. "Are you okay little guy?" Tai asked with a hint of worry and humour in his voice.

"I'll be fine. Just as soon as the world stops spinning." Patamon said as his normal colour started to reappear.

"Let's go find Gennai. He's supposed to be here somewhere." Tai said, scanning the environment.

"Sure the three of you will have found him before you know it." Patamon said before tipping over.

"That was weird." Tai said as he turned his attention to the rookie. "You really don't look good in green. But get back on my back, so we can go."

Patamon stared at him. "You're joking, right? You're really expecting me to get back on after that ride?"

"I'll try to slow down a bit." Tai responded trying not to laugh at the seasick rookie.

Patamon climbed back on Tai's back all the while mumbling something about crazy lions and speed limits.

Tai walked besides Infinity mountain, trying to find a trace of the digital human that probably got him into this mess. He knew that Gennai was involved.

After searching for a while, and ignoring the comments coming from his back, Tai found a trace. 'His smell lingers here.' He thought to himself. 'But how do I even know how Gennai smells?'

'**Instinct'**

'Probably.'

As Tai followed the smell he noticed something else. An other smell, way different from Gennai's. It smelled…evil.

But he didn't pay any attention to it.

Eventually they came to an open section between the forest and the mountain.

Gennai stood there, looking at a tall piece of stone. Tai could smell the sweet scent of freshly picked flowers coming from a few bouquets of flowers, placed near the rock.

"So you finally arrived." Gennai said, his back still turned to Tai as the cyborg lion came closer. He turned around. "And it seems that you have learnt how to digivolve. Impressive."

"Start talking Gennai. You've got a lot of explaining to do." Tai said as a light surrounded him. As it faded away he stood there, once again as Loewemon, with Patamon held in his arms. His colour had returned to a healthy brown.

"You'll get your answers Tai." He said as he turned back to the monument.

Tai walked up to Gennai. "Don't ignore me…" He wasn't able to finish his sentence. He froze when he saw what was written on the stone.

**Dedicated to Taichi Kamiya**

**A leader like no other**

**He showed both worlds the true meaning of courage.**

"You're quite a legend now Tai. It's funny that some people only get recognition after their death."

Tai knew that the world thought he was dead. Heck he did die a few months ago but it's not a pleasant experience being confronted by your own tombstone.

"Is this…is this where they buried me?" Tai was able to get out.

"No, your old body is buried in the human world. But this grave is a lot more popular. There's a certain young lady that brings flowers nearly every day"

"What do you mean by 'old body'?" Patamon asked.

"Follow me and I'll explain everything." Gennai said as he moved to a huge rock a bit away from the monument. He held his hand up to it for a second and it faded away, revealing the entrance to a cave.

Tai was still staring at the black stone. 'It's creepy, seeing your own grave. Even if it's just a monument. And who is this certain young lady that brings flowers?'

"Taimon, you should follow Gennai if you want your answers." Patamon said looking up to the armoured warrior.

"Yes. Let's go." Tai said, still not really paying attention. "Where did he go?"

"Through that." Patamon jumped out of his arms and flew towards the cave.

Tai followed him. "Are you sure you should be flying? Weren't you sick a few minutes ago?"

"I got better. So let's go!" Patamon yelled, also eager for discovering the truth about Tai.

The cave was pitch black. Normally Tai wouldn't be able to see a thing but somehow he was able to see. 'Maybe another enhanced sense.' He thought.

After dwelling through the cave for what seemed like hours the duo arrived in a huge hall. It was as if Infinity Mountain was hollow on the inside.

In the centre of the hall sat a creature that Tai hoped to never see again.

"AncientSphinxmon!"

The creature towered over him.

"Welcome to my home Tai. I believe that you have some questions for me?"

This was to much for Tai. How could he act so casual. As if he didn't do anything.

"Did you do this to me?! Did you turn me into this monster?!"

"I wouldn't call you a monster but yes, this was my doing." AncientSphinxmon responded without any emotion on his steel mask.

"Why? Why did you do this to me?" Tai demanded.

"You talk about this change as if it were a bad thing. But it isn't. I gave you power where most creatures can only dream of. Your body will never age, you can't die and so you will live forever."

"I never asked for this! You robbed me of my humanity, you made me a monster." Tai snapped at the creature.

"You should be grateful, I sacrificed half of my power to give you that body, with a little help from Gennai."

Tai finally noticed Gennai standing next to AncientSphinxmon.

"My power flows through your veins. So in a way I am your father."

Tai remained silent as this information sunk in. "You are not my father. I have a father and his name is Susumu Kamiya. And tell me why you did this to me!" Tai couldn't take it anymore. If he didn't receive his answers soon he'd probably snap.

"We did this because the world still needs you. The darkness is gathering once again."

"Hey" AncientSphinxmon turned to Gennai. "I find that offensive. Just because we are creatures of darkness doesn't mean we're evil."

'Wow what a loon. Is this supposed to be the ancient warrior of darkness? Come on, how can you offended by that?' Patamon thought as he saw Gennai cowering a bit as AncientSphinxmon stared at him with those hollow eyes.

"Eh could you continue?" Tai asked starting to lose his patience.

"Of course." Gennai said as AncientSphinxmon turned his back on him.

"Evil has risen up again. We don't know who yet but we can feel it in the wind. There's an evil aura hanging around the world. Soon we'll need someone to save us. And that someone is you Tai. But since your old body was –how to say this nicely- broken, we decided to create you a new one. And since you died here we were able to trap your soul in this."

Gennai threw Tai a small red crystal, similar to the ones imbedded in his shoulder pads.

"We then made a new body, a digital one like mine. But your soul and consciousness refused to be bound to it. Apparently you were too stubborn to start living again."

Tai threw the crystal back and growled at Gennai making the warrior of darkness laugh. "And that's when he came to me. Since your sister holds the crest of light we figured that the 'darkness made real' could lend a hand. And it worked better then we expected. Not only did your soul stay in the new body, the dark energy created a new digimon out of it: Loewemon."

"We didn't really intend to make you a digimon. It just happened." Gennai continued, a little embarrassed.

Tai couldn't believe what he heard. Not only did they pull him away from heaven or hell, they 'accidentally' made him a digimon and then they still expect him to save the world from this gathering darkness.

"Couldn't you just let me be? Couldn't you find someone else to rescue the world?" Tai asked trying not to yell out of anger.

"There is only one digidestined of courage. And it's your destiny to…" He wasn't able to finish his sentence.

"Destiny. Destiny!" Tai couldn't keep calm anymore. "I have had it with Destiny! All it does is screw us over. Go find another hero to save the world" With this Tai turned around, picked up Patamon and ran out of the cave.

"Come back here at once!" AncientSphinxmon' voice bellowed through the halls but Tai ignored it.

"Calm down. He'll return when he's ready." Gennai said, as if he knew what he was talking about.

Tai just kept running till he saw the light at the end of the tunnel. 'Wish I saw that a bit earlier.' He thought to himself. 'Then I wouldn't be in this mess.'

He put Patamon down and tried to sort out his thoughts. He didn't really like the answers he got. It annoyed him that Gennai wouldn't allow him to rest in peace. It annoyed him that they stripped him of his humanity so he could save the world. Again.

"Damn that was weird." Patamon said. "Not only did we meet one of the rescuers of the world, it seems that you are once again chosen to save it."

Tai didn't respond. He couldn't be mad at the rookie for being a bit excited about all this but he didn't want it. He didn't want the pressure of saving the world again. he just wanted a normal live.

"I mean how can you not want to save the world?"

Tai was just about to make Patamon stop his rambling about being a hero when he saw her.

A girl and a plant-like digimon stood in front of his grave and put down some flowers.

'Mimi' Tai thought as he moved a bit closer to get a better view. 'But Elecmon said that none of the originals came anymore.'

"Why did you have to die. I thought I finally had gathered enough courage to tell you that day. I love you Tai. I always will." Mimi said to the rock as Palmon held her hand.

* * *

Three author's notes: 1 Tai's dad is really called Susumu, I found it on Wikipedia. 2: I know that most people don't like TaiXmimi but I like it. 3: Evil cliffhanger!! (just a little bit) 


	8. A day in the life of a broken heart

Don't own so don't sue.

* * *

Spirits of destiny

Chapter 8

Earlier, Mimi's day.

'Another day, another boring class. It's the same everyday: we go to school, we listen to some hag talking about ancient times or about how pi equals a whole lot of numbers and when the days over we can't remember anything about it.' Mimi thought as she ran up to Sora.

"Hey Mimi" Sora yelled as she waved to her best friend.

"Sorry I'm late. Stupid alarm clock refused to work."

"No problem, school hasn't started yet. Oh and here." Sora handed her a blue ticket. "Matt's first gig with his new band"

"I don't know. I'm not really into this whole metalrock thing." Mimi said as she looked at the ticket. Blue with black letters saying: the crest of courage. Matt had founded a new band after Tai's death. It was his way to show his respect to their former leader.

"I know that but it means a lot for Matt." Sora said trying to convince Mimi. "Please?"

"Okay, okay I'll be there."

"Great it's at seven…"

They would have continued talking if it weren't for.

'_triiiing__'_

Mimi hated that sound. "See you later." She said as she went to her class while Sora went to hers. On her way she passed Kari. The two of them hadn't talked much since Tai's death. It was as if Kari knew that she loved Tai and that she was a bit angry with Mimi for not telling him. Or she just didn't feel like talking to her...

In class Mimi stared at her book. Two hours trapped in a room with some old geezer ranting on about how this number became that number if you did that with your calculator.

This wasn't Mimi's idea of fun.

She quickly checked her watch. Only five minutes had passed but it felt as if an entire week went by.

'Whoever said: Time waits for no man, never listened to this guy.' She thought.

'Tai always said that' She remembered. 'I miss him. I should have told him. I should have protected him.'

"Miss Tachikawa are you even paying attention to what I'm saying?" This sudden voice made Mimi snap back to reality.

"Eh no." She said as she stared at her desk.

"Miss Tachikawa, this was the fifth time this week. And we only have three hours a week. A lot of teachers are complaining about this. You used to be such a good student."

"I know sir."

The teacher sighed. "What is the problem then?"

"I'd rather not discuss it in front of the entire class." Mimi said, feeling the eyes of the others look at her.

"Okay, I'll give you one more chance. If it happens again I'll have to send you to the principal."

Time passed slowly as always. It took a lot of effort but Mimi managed to focus on the mathematical problems.

Eventually the sound of freedom came.

Freedom that only lasted for ten minutes. And it was freedom she couldn't even spend with her friends.

She had to go see the school counsellor. Apparently people around her thought she was depressed. Her parents thought so, her friends thought so, even Sora did. Mimi refused to admit it but she was. Tai's death made something inside snap.

She arrived at his office. Yoh was his name and he was a real jerk.

He always had this 'I know it better'- attitude. It annoyed her.

Hesitantly she knocked on his door. She never understood why she had to come here. Recess only lasted for ten minutes. Hardly enough time to tell her tale to some stranger.

The door opened revealing a young man. "Hi Yoh" Mimi said unenthusiastic.

"Hello Mimi. Come on in." he motioned to two chairs and Mimi said down in one.

"Are you going to tell me about your problems now or do I have to wait even longer?"

'You can wait longer twit' Mimi thought. She hadn't told anyone about her problems yet so why should she tell this jerk.

"Sorry but I don't see the use of these sessions, they only last for ten minutes and I don't feel like telling you anything about my personnel life. So get lost." Mimi said calmly.

Yoh started to write something on a piece of paper, al the while mumbling something about 'denial' and 'not willing to open up to people'

'_triiiing__'_

"You see what I mean? We both just lost ten minutes of our lives." She said as she left his office again.

She never really liked Thursdays. They always seem to go by slower then any other day. Especially when you have an hour of history in front of you.

But after ten minutes of excruciating boredom something wonderful happened. A loud siren filled the hallways. Mimi recognized it as a fire drill. But they had one a week ago.

"Fire!" Miss Shibayama yelled before forcing herself to calm down. "Okay stay calm everyone. Move towards the door in a calm and orderly fashion."

Mimi could smell melting metal and plastic along with the scent of scorched rock. 'Someone must have torched one of the computers again.' She thought as the class walked outside. There they could see the damage. The roof of the school was on fire. Everywhere there were students cheering and applauding the flames as they devoured the object of their torment.

A lot of students were filming or taking pictures of the fire. After all, this was a once in a lifetime thing.

She quickly spotted Sora. "Hey Sora, did Davis do this?"

"Not this time." Sora said, barely containing her laughter.

Davis had blown up a computer a few weeks ago, while trying to find the 'any'-key.

"From what I've heard one of the teachers accidentally blew up a computer while trying to fix it. It sent a surge of electricity through the network, burning through nearly all of the other computers."

Mimi raised an eyebrow. "How do you know that?"

"Teacher told me" She said as she pointed to a man with a slightly charred face, who was still holding a half melted screwdriver. But he didn't look injured, maybe just his pride.

"He was stupid enough not to pull the plug while trying to fix it" Sora continued.

"Attention students." A loud voice came from somewhere. The principal showed herself holding a megaphone. "Due to fire, the school is being evacuated. Please return to your homes. Further information will be provided later." Everyone ignored that last sentence.

"Maybe Thursdays aren't so bad." Mimi said as a fire truck passed her by the entrance of the school property.

Her mom was surprised to see her daughter home so soon. And Palmon couldn't help but laugh at the fact that the school burned down. It's the dream of every student and digimon.

In the afternoon she got an e-mail from Sora. Apparently school would be closed for the rest of the week and probably next week too as they were searching for a new building.

She decided to go and pick up some flowers for Tai's grave. Not the one in the real world, she didn't like that one. It was so cold, not worthy of the one buried there.

She got her flowers at miss Takenouchi's flower shop. She always got a discount, since she was Sora's best friend.

Back home she checked the bouquet. It was simple, just some white roses. Tai liked those. He had told her once.

In her room Palmon was starting to get impatient.

"Let's go, let's go, let's go!" Palmon was starting to freak out. She knew why they were going but still she was a bit exited.

"Hang on." Mimi said as she opened the gate program. Izzy had installed it on all the digidestined's computers, in case of emergency. But she hadn't really spoken to Izzy since. He refused to talk to any of his friends. 'Maybe he's scared of losing us too.' She thought as she pointed her digivice to screen.

As the light faded she and Palmon were flat out on the ground. Mimi quickly checked if her flowers were still intact and banished Izzy out of her thoughts. She would deal with him later.

She made a quick check of the area. She recognized it as one of the forests close to Infinity Mountain. She and Palmon made their way towards Tai's monument.

She liked this one better. It said about Tai who he really was. A hero.

"Come back here at once!" a voice suddenly came from within the mountain. Mimi screamed for a second as Palmon took on an offensive stance. Both of them waited for something to happen.

But nothing did.

"Wow, where did that came from?" Palmon asked as she relaxed again.

"I don't know. It was as if it came from within the mountain. There isn't some evil digimon that lives inside right?"

"Not that I know of." Palmon responded, not really interested in the voice. "And it doesn't seem interested in us so don't pay any attention to it."

Mimi calmed down again and walked to the monument.

She looked at the rock. Her eyes stopped on the courage symbol carved in the rock. She always liked that symbol.

Meanwhile a dark figure came out of a cave, a bit away from the monument. Palmon noticed it but didn't say anything about it

She just walked up to Mimi and took her hand as she put the flowers down.

"Why did you have to die. I thought I finally had gathered enough courage to tell you that day. I love you Tai. I always will."

* * *

This chapter is just a bit of filler. I just wanted to put this in the story. Mimi is a bot Out Of Character but just think like this: she, as all the others, changed in personality after Tai's death.

By the way: I hate counsellors. They always seem to think to know you better then you do. And isn't it the dream of every student to see the school go down in flames?


	9. So close yet so far

Don't own so don't sue. By the way, I got the idea for this fic from a dream, induced by a lot of sugar and caffeine.

And Tai will have a rookie/child level.

* * *

Spirits of destiny

Chapter 9

"She loves me." Tai uttered. "I never knew."

"Do you know her?" Patamon asked.

"Yes, she is part of the digidestined." Tai responded as he continued to look at the girl and her digimon.

'She loves me. I never thought she would. I thought we were to different.'

'**Y****ou are to different. She's human. Do you remember what the other humans did to you? She'll never accept you like you are now.'**

'Shut up.'

"You want to go say hi?" Patamon asked with a evil smile on his face. "What? Are you mad?" Tai screamed, drawing Mimi's attention.

"Who's there?" She asked calmly. She quickly saw where the yell came from.

"Oh crap." Tai said. He knew that he would have to confront the others soon but not like this. He wanted to do so after finding Agumon. He could help explain to the others. Maybe with his help they would believe him.

"Mimi be careful. He could be a bad digimon." Palmon warned her but Mimi walked towards Tai anyway.

She recognized a bit of Leomon in him. But there was something else. Something familiar but she couldn't really tell what it was.

"I'm Mimi. I don't think I've ever seen you here. What's your name?" Mimi asked as she stood in front of Tai. He was a bit taller then her. About the size of a grown man.

"I'm Patamon and tall dark and gruesome here is Ta…" Tai quickly covered his mouth. Under a lot of muffled yells and swears he said: "Lowemon, I'm Lowemon."

Palmon walked up to him and starred at him strangely. Tai was getting nervous as those big green eyes scanned him.

"Haven't we met before?" Palmon asked. "You smell familiar. As if you're an old friend."

Patamon managed to push Tai's hand away. "Of course he smells familiar. He is Ta…" Again Tai silenced the rookie. "Shut up" He whispered into his big ears.

"Maybe you recognize me from…" Tai quickly thought of something. "From two years ago. I was there when they defeated Malomyotismon." It wasn't much but it was the best Tai could think of. And it wasn't a lie. He WAS there. Just not in this form.

"So you're a partner digimon?" Mimi asked, not really believing his story. He seemed a bit nervous about something.

"Well actually, I'm not. I just thought I could help out." Tai lied. It hurt him to lie to her. He wanted to tell her the truth. To tell her that he was alive. Especially after finding out that she loved him. But she had to wait.

"But how…" Palmon would have continued her interrogation if it weren't for the flapping of wings coming from above them.

"Yes master I will destroy them." A voice said.

"What the hell?" Tai said as he looked around, trying to locate the voice.

An Angemon landed in front of them. But there was something wrong. This Angemon had black wings and wore a crimson red outfit in stead of the normal white one.

"Who the hell are you?" Tai asked the strange creature.

"I am ShadowAngemon. And I am here to destroy the human." It responded with a voice without any emotion.

"I don't think so. I won't allow you to lay one finger on her." Tai said as he stood protectively in front of Mimi.

'Why is he doing this?' Mimi thought. 'We don't even know each other.'

"Then you must die." ShadowAngemon said as he aimed a jagged, rusty staff at him.

Tai immediately fired a Shadow Meteor at him. But ShadowAngemon just swiped it away and counterattacked. He swung the staff at Tai, catching him off guard and knocking him back a bit.

"Hand of Despair!" he yelled, hitting Tai in the stomach

Tai was taking quite a beating.

"I must destroy them for my master" ShadowAngemon said again.

"Who are you talking about?" Mimi asked as the fallen angel moved towards her again.

"Stand back Mimi." Palmon said as she pushed Mimi back a bit.

"**Palmon digivolves to…"**

The flower shaped digimon glowed and warped into a new, bigger shape.

"**Togemon!!"**

The huge cactus charged the angel and nearly crushed Tai. "Light Speed Jabbing!" She yelled as she began punching ShadowAngemon with hits invisible for the human eye.

But it was no use, the angel blocked or dodged every hit.

"Hand of Despair" he fired an eerie ray of shadows towards the plant, knocking her out and forcing her to dedigivolve back to Tanemon.

"Tanemon!" Mimi yelled as she caught the in-training. "Are you okay? Speak to me Tanemon."

"Could you talk a bit softer?" Tanemon responded. "I've got a major headache."

"Oh thank God you're alright."

Meanwhile Tai was holding ShadowAngemon back. And Patamon was trying to sneak up to the corrupted digimon.

"Boom Bubble!" The attack hit him in the back but he hardly even noticed.

'Oh why am I so weak' Patamon thought as he saw Tai struggle to defend Mimi from ShadowAngemon's attacks.

'Why can't I digivolve?'

Tai was knocked back by a Hand of Despair. He lost his Sphinx Guard Shield, which dissolved into a cloud of smoke.

"I've grown tired of this game." ShadowAngemon said as he readied his staff to finish Tai of.

'Why? Why can't I defeat him? He's just a champion level.' Tai thought as he faced the fallen angel.

ShadowAngemon swung his staff as if it were a battle axe. He aimed for Tai's head but Tai moved out of the way. The hit shattered the ground, leaving a small crater.

The angel tried an other approach. He threw his staff and hit Tai on his shoulder.

The hit shattered the armor covering his shoulder, causing the red orb imbedded there to be ripped out of the steel.

The shards of his armor pierced his skin, causing a few open wounds. The blood that flowed from them turned into digital dust.

Tai fell to his knees, clenching his shoulder. The red orb lying in front of him.

He remembered what it had done to that Vilemon.

Tai let go of his wounded arm and quickly picked it up.

It wasn't much but it was worth a shot.

He aimed it at ShadowAngemon.

"Creature of light, misled by evil be purified by the power of darkness!!"

Just like it did the first time it shone with a bright silver light.

ShadowAngemon screamed as the darkness was pulled out of his body only to be absorbed and contained by the orb.

As the darkness had disappeared so did ShadowAngemon return to normal. His black wings and red outfit returned to a snowy white.

"What happened to me?"

Tai stood up. "What do you remember?"

"I remember some kind of digimon. A shadow of sorts. And then nothing."

"This reminds me a bit of those black gears." Mimi said as she walked up to Tai and Angemon.

"I was thinking the same." Tai nearly hit himself in the head for saying that.

Mimi looked at him confused. "How do you know about that? They disappeared almost six years ago."

"I know…because…" He stuttered.

'Me and my big mouth.'

"Oh my god." Mimi suddenly said. "You're bleeding." She quickly put Tanemon down and took a look at the wounds.

'Saved by the blood!' Tai thought.

'**Don't let her touch you. She might try to kill you.' **His other side said to him. But there was something different. His voice was shaking with fear. As if it were a wounded animal that was speaking, trying to get away from the humans trying to help or hurt it.

'She won't hurt me. She's my friend.'

Mimi checked his wounds. Tai still had the strange feeling that he should get away from her. But he ignored it.

"I can't help you with this. I'm no doctor." Mimi said, a bit disappointed that she couldn't help her saviour.

"Don't worry about it. Digimon cure fast."

The wounds weren't that deep. It was the armor that Tai was worried about. The once fierce lion head on his left shoulder was shattered.

Angemon noticed this. "I probably had something to do with that. But don't worry about it. It fixes itself, remember? It's a part of our body."

He leaped into the air. "Farewell beings of light. I thank you for saving me from the darkness but I must go now."

He propelled himself forward and disappeared out of sight.

"That was weird." Patamon said, still a bit dissapointed that he couldn't help in the battle.

Tai just stared at his broken armor. Not a day went by without him learning something new about his new body.

But this seemed unreal to him. Armor that repaired itself? But then again a lot of unreal things happen here. And since his body was made of data, so is his armor. So it made some sense. In a strange way.

"Thank you." Mimi suddenly said.

"For what?" Tai responded, not really paying attention. His mind was still focused on his armor and his other side. His reaction to the pain confused Tai a bit.

"For saving me."

"No problem. Anyone would have done it." Tai was blushing a bit, but his face was still covered by his helmet so she couldn't see that.

"Well I should be getting home now. I've got to get to a concert by seven. Bye!"

Mimi quickly picked up Tanemon and ran towards the gate. She aimed her digivice then a flash of light and she was gone.

"Wow." Patamon said. "So that was a human? Weird creatures, always running and stuff."

"You're right about that." Tai said as he thought about what Mimi said. She loved him. He loved her. But neither of them had the guts to tell the other.

"So..." Patamon started. "Do you like her?"

"What? She's just a friend. Notting more." Tai defended himself against the rookie, even though they both knew the truth.

"Sure she is." Patamon said with an other evil smile on his face.

"What are we gonna do now?" Patamon suddenly asked. "You've got your answers and you've got to save the world again. Where do we start?" He was getting excited again. But he didn't know that the life of a hero was one filled with pain. In his quest to save the world with the other digidestined Tai had lost a lot of good friends.

"We're going back to Primary Village. Agumon is waiting there for me."

"You're not going to change back into JagerLowemon are you?" Patamon's stomach got upset at the thought of having to ride on that maniac's back again.

"If I could digivolve I would have done so while fighting ShadowAngemon but I don't have enough energy for it. So we're walking back there."

The duo took off again, towards the Primary Village.

Neither of them knew that a young man was watching them from the cave of AncientSphinxmon.

"Interesting. He never ceases to amaze me." Gennai said as he walked into the forest, not noticing a shadowy creature following him.

He moved a few trees that covered a Mekanorimon. He always travelled in this robot-like digimon as it was useless without a driver.

Just as he was about to board the machine he heard something. A twig snapped.

As he turned around he was hit by a huge leather covered arm. It pinned him against a tree.

"So Gennai we meet again. It seems you've grown a bit younger since we last met." A voice dripping with evil said.

Gennai recognized the voice.

"So you've reassembled yourself. Devimon."

The creature that the arm belonged to came closer. It looked like Devimon. But it had six rotting wings and his entire body except his face was covered by the same colour of steel as the Black Gears. The edges of those infernal contraptions were visible in a few places.

"I am no longer Devimon. I was destroyed with those Black gears still in my system. But they changed me. Made me stronger."

He spread his six wings. Gennai could see the rips in them and the veins running through the still whole skin.

"I am GearDevimon!"

"Oh crap" Was all Gennai could say.

Miles away Tai and Patamon heard a scream but they didn't really pay any attention to it.

Back in the real world Mimi was in her room, still thinking about what had happened.

"He seemed so familiar for some reason. Especially his eyes." She said to no one as Tanemon was sound asleep on her bed.

Later at dinnertime Mimi was watching the news.

"_The fire apparently started in the Computer Lab and quickly spread through out the entire building. The cause of the fire is still unknown but according to some students it was the teacher's fault. Although most other students say 'Davis probably did it.'_

_According to local authorities there was no one injured__. The principal stated…"_

Mimi turned it off and went back to her room to prepare for the evening.

* * *

As always read and review. 

And thanks everyone for reviewing. I never thought i would get 50 reviews for this story. Let's celebrate! 'Dances'


	10. Poison

Don't own so don't sue. By the way this chapter will contain drunk people.

* * *

Spirits of destiny

Chapter 10

Kari showed her ticket and got a stamp on her hand. She then went inside the concert hall.

It had been a while since she had been here. The last time was with Tai. Some small band was playing here and since everyone wanted to party they went. Well everyone except Joe. He was to busy studying to come.

Kari liked coming here. It reminded her of better times.

As she moved to the stage she saw Matt standing there. He was still trying to figure out where to place his amplifiers.

Next to the stage she saw Davis and Yolei. She quickly walked over to them. She didn't like being alone at gigs.

"Hey guys. Did I miss anything?" She said as she stood next to them.

"Not really. Matt yelled at his guitar a few times when his strings broke and everybody is saluting Davis for burning down the school." Yolei said, trying not to laugh.

"For the last time, I didn't burn down the school!!" Davis yelled.

"Oh my God! It's Davis!" Some stranger yelled.

"You're our hero!!" Some girl screamed at him.

"We love you Davis!!" Her friend yelled

"Maybe this whole arson-incident has some upsides." Davis said as he waved at the two girls.

Meanwhile Matt had finished placing his equipment and started a sound check along with the rest of his band.

Kari made a quick scan of the place. She recognized a few faces. Mimi and Sora stood a bit away from her.

Joe and Gomamon were here to. Joe was standing in a corner, talking to some girl, while Gomamon did his best to get some attention.

Joe changed the most of everyone. He started his first year at med school and according to some rumours he's quite the 'party animal'.

"Hey do you know where TK is?" Kari asked Yolei.

"He said he wasn't coming. He didn't say why." She looked down a bit.

"Ken couldn't make it and Cody has his kendo practice." She continued. "And we all know that Izzy wouldn't show up."

Kari was worried about Izzy. He hardly talked to any of them lately.

But she would have to worry about him and TK later. The show was starting.

"We're Crest of Courage and tonight we're gonna rock this place!" Matt yelled as he played a short rift on his guitar. He's the lead singer and plays the guitar in some songs.

They started their first song.

In Kari's opinion they were too loud but not to much. Even though she didn't look like it, she enjoyed this kind of music. The lyrics of some songs just showed what is going on in the heart of the singer.

She knew that Matt showed his feelings by music. He did that with his last band and he's doing it with this one.

Kari easily spotted the pattern in his songs: the first song expressed anger. It was louder then the rest. The ones after that showed his sorrow as they played some calmer songs.

Then they stopped.

"People, as you all probably know, the world lost a hero a few months ago." Matt started.

"He was one of the best friends I ever had and we've written a song about him."

This really caught Kari's attention.

_D__estiny took you from us_

_Way before your time_

_Lost without your courage _

_**Oh friend of mine**_

**_But w__e must carry on_**

_**We can't mourn forever**_

_But know this friend_

_You're never truly gone_

_Only if we allow you to leave our hearts_

_You'll be dead_

It seemed a bit short but the message was clear. Matt was coping with his loss in the only way he knew. Being the tough, lone wolf he'd never admit it but he suffered from Tai's death just like all the others.

"But we have also gained a new hero." Matt said and pointed at Davis.

"Davis we love you!" Random people started yelling at Davis, who turned as red as his hair.

After a few more songs they took a break.

Matt jumped down from the stage and made his way towards Sora. She kissed him and then he said something and pointed to Davis.

"Not another one." Davis moaned.

"Hey Davis." Matt said as he and Sora came to the small group. "You're the best. You've made the dreams of many students come true." He said, trying his best not to laugh at Davis's face which, by now, was even redder.

"Hey Matt." Kari started. "I loved the song about Tai."

"Thanks." Was all he said with a grim smile on his face.

Meanwhile the owner of the place came to Matt. "The break's over. Get back on that stage."

"Wow what a twit." A voice said.

"Joe!" Joe and Gomamon had joined the group

Matt and Sora quickly ran off. Matt went back on stage while Sora went back to Mimi.

"So Joe how's med school?" Yolei asked.

"It's great. I've learned so much about diseases and wounds and bones and how to tinker with someone's heart…" Joe went on for a while.

"Joe, are you drunk?"(1) Kari asked as Joe continued his endless list.

"Maybe just a little bit." Joe said as he stopped reciting his list of medical terms.

"A little bit? A little bit?!? Joe you've drank enough to take out an elephant!" Gomamon yelled.

"You don't even know what an elephant is." Joe responded.

"Yes I do. I watch TV." The two would have continued arguing if it weren't for Crest of Courage starting to play again.

Kari watched how Gomamon jumped onto Joe's head to see the band better.

She was a bit afraid about Joe. At first it seemed that he became a better person after Tai's death. He became much more social, he wasn't afraid of anything anymore and didn't complain as much as he used to.

But it seems he had also developed an alcohol problem. Nothing bad had happened so far but how long would that last? How long would it take before he poisoned himself with the stuff?

She hoped he would realise what he was doing.

She turned her attention back to the music and didn't notice how Joe and Gomamon wandered off again.

Crest of Courage played a few own creations. They didn't have anything to do with Tai's death or something. They were more of the kind you'd expect from a heavy metal band: about evil boulevards, evil plagues and cursed valleys.(2 )

Eventually they ended their show and had to clear the stage for an other band.

Apparently there were a few bands coming to perform tonight.

But she had enough of it. She was tired for some reason.

"Hey Davis." She said to the red-head. "I'm going home."

"What? The party's just getting started!" Davis responded.

"I know but I'm so tired."

"Okay. It's no fun to party when you're dead tired. Want me to walk you home?" Davis said with a big smile.

"No thanks." Kari just said and walked out of the hall. "See you later!"

'He'll probably never give up.' Kari thought as she made her way home.

Her dad was still up. He was watching TV.

"Hey dad" Kari said as she closed the door.

"Back already? I thought you'd stay longer." Dad said without looking up from the screen.

"I got tired so I came home earlier." Kari said before she entered her room. "Good night dad."

"Good night Kari." he said without any emotion in his voice.

Her dad was depressed since Tai's dead. It was as if he couldn't care about anything or anyone anymore.

Salamon was already asleep. She was lying on Tai's bed, next to a familiar pink ball.

Apparently Botamon had digivolved into Koromon while she was out. Normally she would have wondered how he did that without Tai but she was too tired.

She quickly prepared for bed. As always before she went to bed, she asked the same question as always to Tai's picture.

Meanwhile in the Digital world

"How long are we gonna keep on walking?" Patamon complained again.

Tai sighed. "You aren't walking, you're flying so stop complaining.

"That's the same thing, I'm just dead tired."

"Okay, we'll stop for the night." Tai finally gave in. The constant wailing was very annoying.

They would have entered a nearby cave if it weren't for.

"You just had to do that didn't you?" An annoyed but familiar voice said.

"Yup." An other familiar voice said before starting to sing some unknown song.

"But we must carry on. _Hiccup _We can't mourn forever."

'Oh crap.' Tai thought. 'What the hell is going on? First Kari and TK. Then Mimi and now Joe.'

He stared at the would-be doctor, who was hardly able to stand on his legs. He was walking rather crooked with a very angry Gomamon next to him.

Patamon noticed Tai's uneasiness. "Let me guess, another of your friends?" He said with a smug grin. Tai just nodded.

"Which one is it this time?"

"Joe." Tai said as he saw how Joe fell over, tried to stand up but fell over again. He appeared to be quite smashed. Even from a considerable distance Tai could smell the stench of beer.

"Hey Tai, a question. Do all humans have trouble standing on their legs?"

"Only when they drink to much alcohol." Tai said, containing his anger a bit. He always hated what the stuff could do to people. It could change the most decent person into a monster. Just like AncientSphinxmon…

"I said it once and I'll say it again: humans are weird creatures."

Tai stared at Joe. He couldn't understand why he would do this to himself.

"Should we help him?" Patamon asked as Joe did another attempt at standing up.

"Sure, else they'll be here all night."

Tai sighed and moved towards the drunk and the seal.

"By the way, don't tell him my name." Tai warned the rookie.

"You're no fun." Patamon said with a pout.

"Just don't tell them. Joe probably won't remember by tomorrow but Gomamon would tell everyone."

"You've made your point, I won't tell them." Patamon responded, a bit annoyed.

Gomamon noticed them. "Who are you and what do you want?" he asked as he took on a battle position.

"I'm Loewemon and this is Patamon." Tai said, pointing to the rookie.

"Yo" Patamon said in turn.

Gomamon, just like others before him, noticed something familiar about Loewemon but could put his paw on it.

He lowered his front flippers a bit but was still weary of the strangers.

"So what do you want?" He asked again.

"We just want to help you with your friend there." He pointed to Joe, who was lying on the ground again.

"What happened to him?" Patamon asked as he floated over to Joe.

"Ever since one of his best friends died, he's been drinking himself to dead. He's trying to drown his sorrow." Gomamon didn't know why he told this to a complete stranger. It just felt good to tell someone.

"I'm trying nothing…" Joe suddenly said.

Tai never knew that Joe saw him as his best friend. They were good friends but best friends?

Not really. But then again Joe didn't have much friends.

"How did he end up here?"

Gomamon tried to avoid Tai's eyes. "Nearly every time he gets drunk he enters the digital world, babbling something about how he should have saved his friend…"

Gomamon shrugged

"Look, I don't really feel like discussing this here, so could you help me drag him to that thing there." He pointed one of his huge paws towards a TV set, a hundred meters away from them.

"Sure." Tai said as he pulled Joe to his feet and helped him towards the gate.

"Wow a huge cat!" Joe said as they arrived at the gate. Tai placed Joe's digivice in his hand and sent him through the gate, stepping back so he wouldn't get sucked in as well.

"Thanks." Was all Gomamon could say as he was pulled in.

"I didn't know Joe would take it that hard. It wasn't his fault that I got killed. He couldn't do anything." Tai said to himself.

"That's probably why he's acting like that. Because he couldn't save you" Patamon answered.

Tai still couldn't understand as they entered a cave to rest for the night.

* * *

Author notes: 

(1) I don't know anything about law in Japan and I don't know from what age you're allowed to drink. So Joe's the only one drinking in this chapter since he's eighteen. By the way, I do not approve of drinking to much. I'm just trying to make it seem as if Joe is trying to drown his sorrow. As they say in Belgium: geniet maar drink met mate (Dutch for: enjoy but drink responsibly)

(2) those three are my favourite songs: Green Day with Boulevard of broken dreams, Finntroll with Vindfärd-Människopesten and Dragonforce with Valley of the Damned

also I am not good at writing lyrics and i'll probably won't update for a while because my tests are starting next week, so i'll have to study.

read & review


	11. Quest for the other world

Don't own so don't sue.

Spirits of destiny

Chapter 11

* * *

"_You just had to leave us, didn't you?"_ Joe pointed an accusing finger at the dark warrior. 

"_You just had to die."_ He continued. Tai could hardly recognize him. His clothes were tattered and his face was a pale white, almost as if he were dead.

"_You destroyed all of our lives."_ He said as he took a drink from a vodka bottle.

"I'm sorry Joe but you need to get over your sorrow and not drown it." Tai said as he tried to reason with this figment of his own imagination.

"_That's easy for you to say. You got to rest in peace while we had to fill the gap in our lives that you left.__"_ He said as he drank the last of the vodka. He threw the bottle on the ground, causing it to shatter in a thousand pieces. The same happened to Joe and the pieces disappeared.

"**Still sure that you want to see them?"** A voice, that Tai learned to hate, said.

"Yes I want to see them and I'll do so on the first good chance I get. I just need to get to Agumon. He'll help me."

"**You sure about that? What if he hates you to? What if he tries to destroy you just like your sister?" **His doppelganger, this time as Loewemon, said.

"We won't know till we tell him." Tai said with confidence in his voice.

"**It's your funeral." **He responded as he turned around and walked away.

"Digimon don't have funerals!" Tai yelled at his clone. "And I already had one."

Day finally came and Tai woke up. He checked his shoulder. It didn't hurt anymore and his armor was back in one piece even though you could see where it was broken. It was as if someone had forged it again so the pieces were back together. The crystal was back in its place.

Patamon was already up and eager to leave for the Primary village.

That enthusiasm disappeared quickly when he heard how they were gonna get there.

"Please promise that you'll go slow this time." Patamon begged.

"I'll try." Tai said with an evil smile on his face even though Patamon couldn't see it because of the helmet.

"**Loewemon digivolves to…**

The same golden light surrounded him again as his body was formed into something else.

…**JagerLoewemon****!!"**

Patamon quickly prayed to the sovereigns and hopped on Tai's back.

The ride was bumpy as always but Tai went a bit slower then normal for two reasons. One: he didn't want to hear Patamon's constant complaints. Two: he was still thinking about Joe.

It was hard for him to picture Joe throwing his life away because of his death. The Joe he remembered had trouble drinking a glass of champagne at new years' eve.

The one he saw yesterday looked and smelled like he drank a dangerous mix of beer, vodka and sake.

Tai was still a bit worried about the friends he hadn't met yet in this form. Who knows what happened to them…

'Matt, Sora, Izzy, Davis…'

Eventually he saw the colourful blocks that build up the Primary Village.

"Finally we're here!" Tai said as he entered the gates.

It didn't took long before they found Elecmon.

"Yo Elecmon!!" Tai yelled from afar. Elecmon knew that he would come and feared it at the same time. He was a bit afraid to tell Tai the truth. But he had no choice.

"So where is Agumon?" Tai asked.

Elecmon just stared at Tai. This was the first time he was able to get a good look at Tai in this form.

The black and golden plates of steel that covered his body; the huge claws and the-in his opinion- way to pointy teeth.

Tai noticed how Elecmon was looking at him with both fear and admiration. "What happened to you?" He uttered.

"This?" Tai lifted up a paw. "Two days ago I digivolved out of anger and now I can control it."

A light surrounded Tai. He turned back into Loewemon.

"Sort of." He said as he took of his helmet, revealing a smile.

"But why did you attack Kari and TK?" Elecmon asked, even though he knew why. But he wanted to hear Tai's side of the story.

"Well, long story short. They attacked me, my instincts took over and I nearly killed them." Tai said as his smile disappeared.

"I don't really want to talk about it in detail but that's what happened."

"But enough about that. Where's Agumon?" Tai said as his smile reappeared.

Elecmon gathered all his courage and looked Tai straight in the eyes. The same brown eyes he had as a human, only a bit more cat-like then they used to be.

"Tai, it's a bit hard to say this but Agumon isn't here anymore. Your sister took him to the real world." Elecmon immediately jumped away from the dark warrior, expecting him to explode, or at least get angry.

"Excuse me for a second." Tai said as he ran off back into the forest.

Silence for a few minutes and then...

"Aaaaaaaaarrrgghhh!!!!" Everywhere within the forest bird digimon flew up in fear. A lot of rookies ran away, fearing that whatever produced that sound would come after them. The forest around Tai was deserted.

Elecmon was glad that Tai didn't crush him or anything but he didn't see that coming.

Tai just came running back to Elecmon and Patamon, as if nothing had happened.

"Okay." Tai started.

"So you're saying that after having to fight my friends, finding out the truth about what happened to me, finding out that Mimi loves me, being attacked again and finding a drunk digidestined, you're telling me that the only link that I have with the other digidestined, the only one who could help me explain to my friends about my 'condition' is in the real world?"

Tai's eye twitched a bit.

"Something like that." Elecmon said. "Wait Mimi loves you?"

Tai just nodded.

"Wow, Ogremon owes me five Digi-dollars."

"What do you mean by that?" Patamon asked, a bit confused about this entire situation (as always)

Elecmon grinned a bit as he started talking. "Well a long time ago Ogremon, Leomon, Piximon, Whamon and myself made a bet about which digidestineds would end up together."

His smile turned even bigger. "I betted that Tai and Mimi would end up together while Ogremon said that would never happen."

"Wait, so you made a bet on our love life?" Tai said a bit annoyed.

"Yup." Elecmon said as he started to laugh. "There where some strange couples though. Piximon thought that you and Matt would get together."

Elecmon nearly tipped over as he said that. The look on Tai's face was priceless.

"Okay enough about that. Can we get back to business now?" Tai asked as he put his helmet back on. "There's only one solution to my problem now."

"So you're really going to the Human World?" Patamon asked enthusiastic. "Can I come? Please?"

Tai looked at the begging rookie.

"Why would you want to go there? It's way different from the Digital World."

"Because." Patamon started. "It's the dream of every digimon to conquer- eh I mean see- the real world."

Tai raised an eyebrow. "Okay you can come, but no dominating the human race, else I'll send you back to the Digital World."

"I'll behave." Patamon quickly said. 'For a while.' He thought.

"Okay, but I'm keeping an eye on you." Tai said, still a bit suspicious.

"Since it's Friday today everyone should be in school. So we enter the real world. Sneak to my house, get Agumon and then…" Tai took a deep breath." We tell everyone that I'm still alive."

"And then we'll conquer the Human World!" Patamon yelled. "Just kidding." He quickly added.

"Let's just get going." Tai said as they walked to the exit of Primary Village. "There's a TV-set in the forest. I saw it when I ran in there to scream."

"You do know that you don't look very human anymore, with the armor, helmet and pointy teeth…"

"I'll think of something when we get there, so stop worrying." Tai yelled back at Elecmon.

"Bye Elecmon!" Patamon yelled as he followed Tai.

"Bye!" He yelled back. "Five dollars, here I come!" He said as he ran of to find Ogremon, (not realizing that everyone still thought Tai was dead.)

Tai and Patamon arrived at the TV-set.

"So… Any idea how this thing works?" Patamon asked as he tapped on the screen.

"Nope." Tai responded. "The last time I used one of these I was still alive and I had my digivice with me."

"Can't we use that?"

"No, it's probably six feet under along with my body in the real world." Tai said as he thought about how to open the gate.

Normally he'd just point his digivice and get sucked in by the screen. But how was he supposed to open it now?

'There has got to be a way. I mean, there have been so many digimon that got to the real world without the use of a digivice.' He thought as he studied the TV-set.

"Where's Gennai when you need him?" Tai said as he fell to his knees. The crystal on his shoulder started to glow faintly.

"That's it! Tai yelled. "This thingy has acted like a digivice before so…" He took it from his shoulder and aimed it at the TV. The screen switched on to show the insides of a computer lab. A charred computer lab

"You ready?" Tai asked as he picked up Patamon with his other arm.

"Hell yeah!"

"Here we go!!" Tai yelled as the crystal shone with a blinding light.

A flash of light and they were gone.

Meanwhile in a other part of the world, in a cave where no sane digimon would venture, there stood two shadowy figures. They tallest of the two spoke with a formless entity within a huge crystal.

"He will lead us to the key. He is completely under my control. I could order him to jump of Mount Infinity and he'd do it."

"After you freed us you can let him do that. He must pay for what he did to me." A voice spoke from within the gemstone.

"But first the key, you idiot. Else we'll be stuck in here till the end of time itself." An other voice said.

GearDevimon turned to the one besides him. "So tell me Gennai, where is the key to this crystal prison?"

Gennai looked awful. His eyes were white and his face was a sickening shade of grey.

"It's… It's… It's… It's…" Gennai started but refused to finish his sentence.

"Come on now Gennai. Quit trying to regain control over your body. My Shadow Possession can control ultimate level digimon. So why should you be able to fight it?"

"I…I… can… still…fight." The possessed version of Gennai said, struggling to breathe with every word.

"Then you need another dose of **Shadow Possesion**!!" GearDevimon yelled as he slammed his hand into Gennai's forehead. Dark energy scattered all over Gennai's skull.

He gasped for air and then…

Nothing.

Gennai remained silent.

"So Gennai. Are you gonna tell where I can find the key?"

"Yes master." He spoke with an emotionless voice. "Good slave." GearDevimon said as his lips curled into a wicked smile.

* * *

I'm so evil, enslaving poor Gennai. 

My tests are almost over, only a few left to go. Tomorrow it's only English test.

By the way: I like vodka 'runs of singing the vodka song'


	12. The world behind the silver screen

Don't own so don't sue.

* * *

Spirits of destiny

Chapter 12

Kari woke up. For the first time in weeks she got to stay in bed till nearly midday.

She got up, went to the bathroom and brushed her teeth. As she brushed she noticed a cat-like digimon looking at her in the doorway.

"So you finally digivolved?" Kari said as she finished up and cleaned out the sink.

"Yup, it feels great having useful paws again. Those little stubs I have as Salamon are quite useless." Gatomon said before she ran back to the bedroom. Kari followed her.

Kari pulled out a pair of jeans and a pink T-shirt with a kitty on it. She quickly replaced her nightgown with these garments.

"Hey Gatomon, a question." Kari said as she pointed at the still sleeping pink ball named Koromon.

"When did that happen? I thought it took a while for baby digimon to digivolve to in-training?"

"Normally it takes some time, but with all the food that digimon eats, I'm surprised he didn't immediately evolve to Greymon!" Gatomon smirked.

"Did he say anything about…you know…" Kari asked.

Gatomon's face turned serious. "Yes, but it's strange. He said that Elecmon and some strange Patamon told him that Tai's still alive, only 'different', whatever that means…"

"Maybe Elecmon just had to many digimushrooms, if you know what I mean." Gatomon grinned as her serious face dissapeared.

"Maybe." Kari responded, not really knowing what to make of this situation. She'd just have to ask Koromon about it later. Maybe Gatomon just misunderstood or something.

"Brrrr." Gatomon suddenly shivered. "That was weird."

"What was?" Kari asked, not really paying attention.

"I just felt a shiver go down my spine." Gatomon started to groom her left glove. "As if something is about to happen."

"Something bad?" Kari asked suddenly a bit nervous. Gatomon's shivers had been accurate a few times before. Like the day Tai died…

"Not bad." Gatomon said. "Just something…"

"You're talking in riddles again." Kari said as she tried to focus on something else.

"I'm going to see if anyone of the gang wants to do something. You wanna come?"

"Not really. I'm gonna keep an eye on pipsqueak." She pointed a sharp claw at the bedroom. "I'm not letting him out of my sight again."

Kari smiled at this. She quickly took her jacket, said bye to her mom and left the appartement.

Meanwhile, half way to the real world.

For Tai this was the first time to travel through the gate as a digimon. But it couldn't be worse then when he was human. He always ended up on the bottom of the human pile.

But digimon always landed on their feet as they arrived in either world.

The end of the tunnel of light and data came closer.

Tai felt a strange sensation going through his body just before he arrived at the end.

A flash of light and then…

He was back in the Human World.

"Oh yes!! I'm back home!!" Tai yelled, ignoring the fact that teachers or students could be in this room.

Yet something was different. The lab was burned to a crisp, but that wasn't it. Though he did feel like blaming Davis for this…

No, everything was… bigger then he remembered.

"You've got to be kidding me." Tai's voice had changed as well. He sounded just like when he entered the Digital World for the first time.

"Wow Taimon, you shrunk!" Patamon was at eyelevel now. "So this is the Human World?" Patamon asked, not really paying attention to Tai's new form.

Tai didn't hear him. He was to busy examining his new, smaller body.

He stood on four legs again, but he was used to that now, with all the digivolving to JagerLoewemon.

His paws all had four silver claws. They weren't as impressive as his ultimate's but they were sharp enough.

He found a piece of broken glass. It wasn't much but it was enough to see his new features: his face was now more dog-like then lion and he had a golden collar with his red crystal on it. He opened his mouth revealing a set of sharp teeth. His eyes were still the same.

His fur was black with two silver stripes on his face running just past his eyes.

And he had a tail. He hated this part of being a digimon. It didn't even have any use.

"Hey Taimon, is it normal for human rooms to be this crispy?" Patamon asked as he easily broke of a piece of wood from a fallen chair.

"No, I think a fire destroyed this part of the building." Tai said as he scanned the room. Everywhere there were broken and scorched chairs and tables. The computers seemed to all have melted. Except for one.

The one they just used. It was still in good condition, except for some smoke damage.

It took a while before Tai recognized it as the one they always used to enter the Digital World.

"Let's just get going. There's nothing to be gained by hanging around here." Tai said as he moved to the door. 'Now to open this…' He thought as he tried to figure out how to open it without thumbs and without being able to reach the doorknob.

Normally he'd just digivolve but he felt as if his energy had left him.

So he did the only sane thing. He pounced the door.

That didn't work. It didn't even budge. The only thing that happened was some soot falling from the door.

The dust fell on his nose, irritating the sensory organ and…

Tai sneezed.

That was normal for any creature, human or digimon. But what happened as he sneezed wasn't.

Tai melted away into a cloud of black smoke. Scared by this he accidentally fell through a crack in the floor. His normal form wouldn't fit but as a tuft of smoke he easily slipped through.

"Wow!" He heard Patamon yell from the floor above him. "How did you do that?"

"No idea!" Tai yelled back. His body returned to its corporal state. He quickly checked his body. The smoke had disappeared. He was back in one piece.

"But how did I do that?" He said to himself. Tai tried it again. Nothing.

He thought about how it had happened. He had inhaled some dust and then. He sneezed.

"This sucks. I gain a new useful ability with this body and the only way I can use it is by sneezing."

He checked his surroundings. He was in the old chemistry lab. And the door was open. He could get out this way. And apparently there weren't any humans around so he could easily leave the building without being seen.

'But what about Patamon?' He thought. 'Wait, that glass.' The piece of glass that he checked his new looks in. There must be a broken window in the computer lab.

"Hey Patamon!" Tai yelled up again. "Go to the window."

"Okay!" Patamon yelled back.

"Do you see a place with a lot of trees?"

"Yes!" Patamon yelled.

"That's the park. Fly over there through the window! I'll meet you there. And be careful, this isn't the Digital World!"

"Yeah yeah yeah. I'll be careful."

Tai heard the flapping of wings and then nothing.

He quickly ran out of the door and into the hallway. He slowed down a bit as he reached the stairs. Little by little he descended the stairs. This was the first he went down the stairs on four legs.

The main door was closed and taped with 'Do-Not-Cross'-tape.

So he was stuck again.

Tai decided to try the melting thingy again. He concentrated and his left paw melted away. He grinned as it turned back.

He tried it on a bigger scale.

This time it worked. The pile of smoke that was Tai quickly slipped under the door and returned to his real shape.

Now that he was out of the school he had to find Patamon before he tried to enslave the human race.

Tai started to run and… fell on his face. He got up and tried again but something held him back.

He turned around to see that his tail was stuck under the door.

"Useless and annoying!" Tai yelled as he started to claw at the door trying to break free from the wooden prison.

His silver claws easily cut the strong wooden door.

Eventually he got free and turned his attention to the park. He had to get there quickly. Who knows what could happen to Patamon there.

But his mind wandered off again. Since the school had burned down all the students probably had a week or so off so he had to be careful not to run in to too many people.

Especially those he knows...

He would have to face them soon, he knew this but still. Would they ever accept him again? Maybe he should have stayed in the Digital World.

But if Gennai was right and the worlds were in danger again he would have to face the digidestined sooner or later.

And sooner was better in this case.

He moved through the streets, crossing it at some points. He had to really concentrate to find the exact location of the park. He hadn't been there in ages.

As Tai made his way through the streets he encountered someone familiar.

Davis.

He didn't seem to have any real destination, he was just wandering the streets.

It took a lot of willpower not to run up to Davis and talk to him.

He just walked past him, not even looking up to him since Davis towered over him now. Tai hated being this small.

He forgot one thing though: Davis loves dogs.

"Hey there poochie." Davis lowered to Tai's level. "Aren't you a cute one." Davis tried to rub Tai's head.

Tai pulled away. He didn't want to be treated like a real dog. Especially not by someone who used to worship him.

"Not a big fan of petting are you?" Davis said rubbing the back of his head. "Come on I won't hurt you." He held out a hand to Tai.

'Is he expecting me to sniff his hand or what?' Tai thought.

"Twit." Tai mumbled a bit to loud.

"What?" Davis asked, looking around to see where the sound came from. There weren't any other people in the street except for some men in a hardware store. So…

Tai would have hit himself in the head for doing that, if still could hit himself in the head with this body. How stupid could he be?

"Hey doggie, did you hear anything?" Davis thought for a second and whispered. "Or did you say anything?"

"Woof." Tai said, sounding very unconvincing as a dog.

"I must be going crazy." Davis said as he continued on his way, leaving Tai behind.

"That was a bit to close for comfort." Tai said to himself. Davis heard him clearly this time.

"Hey I heard you this time!" He pointed a finger at Tai. "Dogs aren't supposed to talk!"

Tai had to think quick. "Woof." He said again, still not very convincing.

"Damn straight!" Davis said as he turned around again and walked away.

* * *

I had a surge of inspiration yesterday so I'm updating sooner then normal. By the way, I love the Simpsons. 

reviews:

-Vigatus: Thanks. I did great on my English exam. And thanks for the information about Japan.

-Fruitloop Trooper: You don't know how long I've been waiting to use his rookie level.

-Oversized Bucket: Patamon will do something veeeery evil next chapter. The disguise thing could have worked but I meant to use Tai's rookie for his trip to the real world...

-Lord Pata: Thanks

some information about Tai's new form:

Name: DemiSphinxmon

Type: Ancient Dark

Attacks: **Shadow Meld**: _He fades away in a cloud of smoke, unreachable for those pure of heart. In this form DemiSphinxmon can easily slip through cracks and he can hide away in the shadows._**Comet Blast**: He launches a small meteor at his enemies.


	13. Unexpected events

Don't own so don't sue.

* * *

Spirits of destiny

Chapter 13

Tai couldn't believe what just happened. Davis actually believed that he was a dog. Even after talking twice and doing a bad imitation of a dog.

Some things never change.

But Davis his brain finally got enough oxygen. He figured it out, turned around and pointed at Tai.

"You're a digimon!" He yelled.

"Way to go Sherlock." Tai responded. His secret was out so why not make the best of it. He knew it wasn't right to laugh with Davis. He was his friend. But still it was funny as hell.

"Why are you here? You're not a digidestined digimon." Davis said as he came closer, still pointing at the black dog digimon.

"That's my own business." Tai snapped as he searched for a way out. The street was deserted so he could easily cross it and run into another. But he had to make his way to the park. So…

Tai turned tail and ran. Davis realized he couldn't afford to lose the rookie out of sight. So he ran after him.

Losing Davis was harder then Tai thought. The redhead was very persistent and fast. But with a bit luck Tai could lose him in the park.

But first he had to find it. He checked his surroundings. He vaguely remembered his way. Tai crossed the street and ran through an alley, zigzagging between the thrash cans. He checked behind him: Davis was still in pursuit but he was slowed down by the trash.

Tai did another check of his surroundings. It was just one more street he would have to pass till his destination.

He hurried down the lane as Davis was gaining on him.

Tai easily jumped the small fence dividing city and park. Davis climbed over it.

Tai searched for a place to hide. He was quite small now so that shouldn't be a problem. And he could…

"Gotcha!" Davis yelled as he gained on Tai and dove towards him. His fingers clenched around Tai's body.

Tai instinctively reacted. He faded away in a cloud of dark smoke and Davis hit the ground with nothing but smoke in his hands.

"What the…" He said as he checked the smoke. He waved it away.

"That was weird."

At the same moment his D-terminal went off. He quickly retrieved it from his pocket and opened it.

_One new message from: Yolie_

Davis quickly opened it up, eager to know what she had to tell him.

_Hey Davis. We've got a major problem here. Izzy just called: apparently the digi-gate in the school was activated an hour ago. Yeah I know you burned it down but the gate survived somehow._

_Izzy was a bit scarce with information but there was one huge energy reading. Let me know if you see something strange. I'll contact the others as well._

_Love, Yolei_

Davis scratched his head for a second. Since when did Izzy call anyone? And since when did Yolei end her messages with 'love'?

He thought for a second before he typed a message to send back to her.

_I think I already found that what came through the gate. It's a small black digimon with a golden collar. But we should be careful. I think it's a teleporter or something because it disappeared into thin air._

_I'll try to find him and send him back to the digital world. Tell the others not to use to much force. It's just a rookie._

_Bye_

He pressed the send-button and looked around only to see a few humans, dogs and a pile of smoke. He didn't pay much attention to it and waved it away again.

The smoke retreated to a nearby tree where it formed into a vague dog-like form on one of the branches. And then it became a more solid form.

Tai stared at Davis. He had left the park through a nearby exit. Tai sighed a bit. He mentally cursed himself for talking in front of Davis. He didn't know he would end up being chased by him.

But on the bright side: he was in the park now.

And now he had to find Patamon before he tried to conquer earth. Tai laughed at this. Like that was ever gonna happen.

He jumped out of the tree and sniffed the ground. He picked up a faint scent. He quickly ran deeper into the park where few humans ventured.

There he heard a familiar voice.

"Puny humans! Tremble before me for I am your new ruler! Those of you who wish to live can join me, the others shall perish!!" Patamon yelled.

"Now Patamon, what did I say about conquering the world?" Tai snickered as he saw the 'puny humans' he was talking to: a few stray dogs and cats.

"Eh?" Patamon said a bit surprised to hear Tai's voice. "I know that you're against it but with your power and this army of loyal and vicious humans we will conquer this human world with ease!"

One of the dogs walked over to Patamon and licked his face. This made Tai drop to the ground laughing.

"Yes a very vicious army of humans!" Tai laughed as the two dogs and one cat took off as they lost interest in the weird animal. Only the one licking Patamon was still there. It was a huge brown dog with tangled hair and beautiful blue eyes.

"Okay." Patamon said as he pushed the dog away. "Maybe they're not so mean or loyal."

"They're not even human." Tai said as he stood back up.

"What? But they look just like you so I thought they were humans." Patamon said as bit confused and annoyed by that the dog that was still sniffing him. "Stop that." He pushed the dog away again.

"Those were dogs and cats. They're just pets to humans. Humans are those strange pink creatures that populate the city you flew over."

"That explains why none of them were very chatty." Patamon scratched his head.

"Let's just get going again. Somebody saw me so they're probably looking for us." Tai said as he headed towards the exit of the park.

"And by the way, no more attempts to conquer this world or I'll throw you back to the Digital World."

The trio (Tai, Patamon and the dog) walked through the park. They didn't draw to much attention. Apparently most humans were used to Digimon or they thought he was a dog accompanied by another dog and a strange rabbit/pig.

Just as they were about to exit the park Tai saw them: Mimi and Sora…

They were sitting on a bench talking about God knows what.

Tai's heart skipped a beat when he saw Mimi. It had only been a day but still…

But he had to just walk past them. They probably knew about him being there. But with a bit luck they wouldn't see him.

And he had to go out this way. It was the shortest path to his place

He stopped to think. They know that Patamon is a digimon so he couldn't be seen with him.

Alone they might believe he's just a dog. But with Patamon walking next to him they'd quickly figure it out. He doubted most animals hang out with Digimon. Except the dog that had been following them since Patamon's attempt to gather allies.

"Hey Taimon isn't that the girl that loves you?" Patamon yelled out as he saw Mimi.

"Shut it!" Normally he would have silenced the rookie but now he was a rookie as well and just as big as Patamon so…

"Now listen to me. I want you to fly to the exit so those two there won't see you." He pointed his head to the two girls.

"I'll just sneak past them later." Tai finished.

"Why?" Patamon asked, pushing the brown dog that was sniffing him again away.

"If they see me with you they'll realize I'm a digimon to and then they'll chase me as well."

Patamon sighed. "Just tell them you're Tai. They'll understand. There: problem solved."

"It's not that simple." Tai said a bit annoyed by Patamon's tone of voice.

"Why?" Patamon asked. "Just fly over to the fence." Tai snapped, a bit angry and worried about this situation.

Patamon didn't respond and just did as Tai told him to. The brown dog just walked towards the exit.

'Okay.' Tai thought. 'You can do this. They'll probably won't pay any attention to you anyway so why worry?'

He carefully sneaked towards the bench. If he stayed in the shadows nobody would notice him.

Patamon stared at Tai from on top of the fence. He didn't understand why he didn't just turned to dust and float past them.

"Humans are weird." He said to himself. The dog agreed with a bark.

'Carefully, carefully.' Tai thought as he walked behind the bench. 'Almost there…'

'_Snap'_

He looked down to see what he stepped on. A twig.

One measly little twig.

The two girls on the bench turned around and saw him.

"Oh my God…" Sora started. Tai flinched a bit as he knew what was going to happen now.

"A puppy!!"

Mimi quickly picked him up.

"Oh he's so cute!"

Tai didn't see that coming.

* * *

Who of you did? 

reviews: Lord Pata: thanks, glad you liked it. The computer was burned but still connected to the internet. So Tai was able to come here.

Fruitloop Trooper: Normally yes but I copied it from Gatomon: cat-like champion and dog-like rookie.

I need a good name for the dog so any suggestions are welcome.

I know it's a day late but merry christmas and it's a bit early but happy new year!


	14. Almost Home

Don't own so don't sue.

* * *

Spirits of destiny

Chapter 14

"Oh he's so cute!" Mimi yelled as she pulled Tai in a hug.

"Mimi be careful. He could bite you." Sora warned her even though she thought the same about the pup.

"Oh loosen up Sora, it's just a puppy. He won't bite." Mimi said as she put Tai on her lap.

She studied the pup. It had a beautiful black coat of fur and a golden collar around his neck. Mimi was a bit disappointed when she saw this.

"He's got a collar, so somebody owns him." Mimi said a bit sad. "To bad, I've always wanted a puppy."

'Nobody owns me.' Tai thought angrily. He growled a bit. As Loewemon digimon would avoid him when he growled. As this rookie…

Mimi and Sora laughed at the attempts to growl from the pup. It sounded more like a whimper.

"Hey Mimi, I've got an evil idea." Sora said with a mischievous look on her face.

'Oh dear.' Tai thought as he feared what she was gonna say.

"You should keep him anyway. It's possible that someone just left him here."

"How could anyone leave this cute dog alone?" Mimi said as she realized what Sora was doing: she was just looking for an excuse to keep the pup.

"Come on Mimi, just keep him. This little one needs a lot of love." The same mischievous smile on her face. "Besides it'll take your mind of Tai."

Mimi's smile faded a bit.

Tai stopped struggling to get away and paid attention to what was going to happen now.

Mimi knew it was true, she needed something to keep her mind from Tai. She knew that eventually it would kill her to keep feeling remorse for not telling him.

"Fine I'll keep him. But only if you stop complaining about me and Tai." Mimi gave in to her friend's attempts.

"All right! Welcome to the team little one!" Sora rubbed Tai's head, messing up his hair in the process.

'Oh crap!' Tai thought. 'I didn't really plan on becoming Mimi's pet, even though the attention would be nice and the petting isn't so bad either.' He thought as Mimi started to rub his back.

'Wait, since when do I think like that?!?' Tai realized. 'Maybe it has something to do with being a rookie or being a dog type digimon. Yeah that's probably it.'

"So…How are you going to call him?" Sora asked a bit curious.

"I don't know yet. Heck I'm not even sure if it's a boy or a girl."

'Not good.'

Mimi picked up the struggling pup and held him up.

"It's a boy." Mimi laughed a bit. If Tai's face weren't covered with fur he would be as red as a Tyrannomon.

"So what are you gonna name him?" Sora asked her again.

"Still don't know but he's got to be taken to the vet soon for his injections and later to get 'fixed'."

'Oh god no!' Tai whimpered a bit.

"You hear that boy?" Sora said to Tai as Mimi handed him to her. "You're gonna get neutered!"

"Aaaaaaahhhhhh!!" This was to much for Tai. He struggled his way out of Sora's hands.

"I'm getting the hell out of here!!"

He ran as if the devil himself was chasing him towards the exit of the park, where a laughing Patamon and a big brown dog were waiting for him.

They all quickly ran in a random direction.

Meanwhile Mimi and Sora sat on the bench, a bit shocked by what had just happened.

"Mimi?"

"Yes?"

"Did that puppy just talk?"

"More like screamed."

Mimi was shocked. Not just by a talking and screaming dog. His voice. It sounded...

Like Tai's.

She knew that couldn't be true. Tai was gone. But still…

She probably just imagined it. Even though there was this one little voice in the back of her head that screamed that she heard Tai's voice from when they first entered the Digital World.

Mimi quickly banished that voice. She stood up from the bench.

"We've got to find that Digimon. Who knows what he's up to." Mimi said to her still stunned friend.

"You're right but we need to get our Digimon first. Then we'll look for him and send him back."

Mimi ran one way and Sora the other.

She quickly arrived at home. As she entered the her room she saw Palmon sitting on her desk.

"I thought you'd come back soon." Palmon said as she turned her attention towards the brown-haired girl.

"Yolei send you a mail, which I umm accidentally opened." Palmon tried her best not to look suspicious.

"We'll talk about this later. First things first." She pushed Palmon out from in front the screen and opened her mailbox.

_You have 0 new messages._

Mimi quickly clicked the newest open one.

_Hey Mimi_

_We've got a problem here. A Digimon has entered this world. According to Davis he can teleport. But be careful: it's just a rookie so don't overdo it. Just send him back._

_Signed: Yolei_

Mimi quickly shut the computer off again. She checked for her digivice and picked up her laptop.

She hardly ever used it, only to send Digimon back to their world sometimes. And since Izzy didn't bother to show up anymore and Ken's was broken she had to bring her own.

"You ready?" Palmon nodded. They quickly headed back to the park where Sora and Biyomon were waiting for them.

"Did you get the same message from Yolei?" Sora nodded.

"She said we would have to be careful since it's a rookie. So you two."

She directed her attention to the two digimon standing there. "Don't delete him. I doubt that he's evil or anything. But we should be careful anyway"

"Don't worry, we'll be careful." Both digimon said.

"Still we should find the others first. I send them a message to meet at Kari's appartement."

"Why's that? We can easily handle him." Biyomon interrupted. "There's safety in numbers." Sora responded. She didn't want a repeat of two months ago.

The quartet left to find their fellow digidestined.

Meanwhile a digital dog, a weird flying creature and a regular dog stopped to catch their breath.

"Okay 'pant' that was not 'pant' cool." Tai had a bit trouble breathing. He had never ran that hard. But no one had ever threatened to do 'that' to him.

"You should have seen the look on your face Taimon with those two girls petting you. I wish I brought a camera!" Patamon nearly fell over from laughing.

"Yeah yeah very funny." Tai said sarcastically. "Let's just get to my apartment and get this over with."

They walked of in a familiar direction. None of them said anything for a while. Except for the occasional bark from the dog that was still following them. Every once in awhile he gently bit at Patamon's ears. This amused Tai since it annoyed Patamon.

"Hey Taimon." Patamon broke the silence. "What does 'being fixed' mean? You're not broken or anything, are you?"

Tai blushed a bit at this question. "How did you even hear about that?"

"Big ears Taimon, they're not just for flying."

Tai swallowed as he thought of an excuse. "I'll tell you when you're older."

"You're no fun." Patamon pouted.

Tai chuckled at this. 'Neither is getting fixed.'

They finally arrived at his appartement.

Patamon could believe what he saw. "Damn Taimon, you live HERE? This place is huge!"

"Actually a lot of people live here. My family just rents a place here. That is if they're still here." That thought had crossed his mind once or twice. What if his family didn't live here anymore. How would he ever find them if they had left this place?

Tai sighed. "Here goes nothing." He ran towards the door separating the staircase from the outside.

There was just one problem again. The door was locked and he still didn't have any opposable thumbs nor was he high enough to reach the door.

"I'm afraid that the two of you can't come up with me. The door's locked. So you two have to wait here."

"What?! That's not fair!" Patamon exclaimed.

"I'm sorry but you can't get in this way."

"Then I'll just fly up there."

"Okay okay, you can fly up there but you can't come in with me. I have to do this alone."

Tai faded away into smoke and easily slipped under the door. He returned to his corporal form.

Patamon flew up a bit so he could follow Tai from the outside. He tried to gain some altitude when he heard an annoyed scream.

"Taimon you okay?" Patamon asked fearing that something had happened to his friend.

"My tail is stuck! Again!!" Patamon just dropped out of the sky like a rock. He just could stop laughing. The dog that had been following him since the park ran up to him and started licking his face again.

"Stop that." Patamon pushed the much larger dog away. "I'm loose now, I'm going up." He heard Tai yell from the other side of the door.

Patamon took off again.

Tai ran up the stairs. One thing was for sure: he didn't like stairs anymore. Not that he ever did. Normally he'd just take the elevator, but he couldn't even reach the buttons so that was out of option.

As he was halfway he heard a dog bark and someone opened the door below. The person then came rushing up the stairs.

Tai quickly dissolved into smoke and waited for whoever it was to pass.

Kari came running past him, quickly ascending the stairway.

She stopped for a second as she saw the smoke but paid it no further attention. She had to get Gatomon. She, Davis, Joe Mimi and Sora had to find that digimon before he started wrecking the place. There was no one else that responded to Yolei's messages. And since Joe had a major hangover he wouldn't be of much use.

As Tai heard the door above him close he returned to his real form. As he continued his climbing he thought why Kari was in such a hurry. He quickly realized that she was looking for him as well and went to pick up Gatomon.

A few minutes later Tai had reached his floor. Only a bit more till home. And since Kari just ran past him meant his family still lived here.

As he came to his old front door doubt started to grow again. Did he really want to burden his family with his miraculous resurrection? Maybe he shouldn't have…

No.

He had to show he was alive.

He looked up at his door.

'Kamiya residence'

Tai took a deep breath and stepped towards the door.

* * *

Evil cliffhanger!!! (I'm so evil.) 

By the way I'm starting to work on a new fic though I don't know what yet: either a Harry Potter fanfic about werewolves or a Digimon-Avatar crossover.

Happy New Year!!


	15. Meteor Shower

Don't own so don't sue.

* * *

Spirits of destiny

Chapter 15

Just as Tai gathered his courage to enter his flat the door was roughly opened, knocking him out of the way.

He saw Kari rush back in the direction she came from and down the stairs. But Gatomon wasn't with her. 'She must be outside somewhere, Gatomon has a nasty habit of wandering of during the day.' Tai thought.

The door was open. Almost open, the lock hadn't shut entirely.

Tai pushed his nose between the opening and pushed the door open, just enough so he could fit through.

He entered the hallway, which was divided from the kitchen and living room by a counter. Tai could hardly realize it. He was home.

Home.

Normally he would have yelled from the top of his lungs to declare he was back but that didn't seem like a good idea.

Kari probably kept Agumon in their room, if it was still _their_ room. He _had_ been dead for two months.

The only activity he saw was his mom. She was watching one of those annoying soaps which Tai hated so much. God what he wouldn't give to tell her he was back. To tell that her dead son was among the living once more. But that had to wait.

He quickly snuck towards his and Kari's room. Checking again that mom couldn't see him he turned to smoke and snuck under the door. This time his tail didn't get stuck, which he was thankful for.

There he was. His best friend and probably the only one that can help him.

Koromon.

Carefully he walked towards the sleeping form on the lower bunk. It was funny. Most teens would want separate rooms but he and Kari were very close so they had shared a room since the beginning. The room had hardly changed. Some of his stuff was gone but other then that it was still the same.

He jumped on the bed. The shock caused Koromon to stir. Slowly he opened his eyes and yawned.

"Koromon?" Tai asked calmly.

Koromon recognized that voice. It had been a long time since he last heard it. Tai's voice when they first met. But Tai was dead.

"It can't be…" He looked around for the source of the voice. He saw a small black dog-like digimon sit next to him.

"Hey." Tai said, not knowing what else to say. "It's been a long time."

"No it can't be. But still. Tai?" Koromon asked hesitantly.

Tai just nodded, happy that even now his best friend recognized him. Friendship was something strange.

Koromon pounced Tai, knocking him over. "Oh Tai oh Tai! I can't believe you're here! But you died, how can you be here?"

"Long story. I'll tell it later" Tai said "Damn what have they been feeding you here." He said as he pushed the pink ball of him.

"A lot." Koromon smiled. "Oh Tai I still can't believe it. I mean Elecmon said you were alive and different but I hardly believed it and know you're here!! As a digimon?"

"Yeah I'm glad to see you to but keep it down a bit. Mom is in the next room."

"Oh sorry but can you blame me? I mean my best friend came back from the dead. But why are you all furry and small?" Koromon took a good look at his old friend.

"I know. It's weird but as I already said I'll tell you all about it later. First we need to convince someone I'm Tai." Tai said as Koromon calmed down a bit.

"First we should…" Tai stopped. He heard some strange noises coming from above him. It sounded like a cat yawning. For a second Tai hoped it was Miko.

"Oh dear." Tai said as he realised who was up there. Gatomon.

He thought that she was out wandering the city but she was here. Maybe he could convince Gatomon it was him. Maybe she would try to kill him.

He just had to take that risk.

Gatomon jumped down from the top bunk and looked at them expecting to see a sleeping Koromon. Instead she saw Koromon and someone that looked rather familiar.

"Who are you?" Gatomon said as she prepared to fight. The dog-like digimon didn't look strong but she would kill anyone trying to hurt Koromon.

"Gatomon it's me Tai." He said calmly.

Gatomon just eyed him strangely before turning angry. "Tai is dead and I will not have you violate his good name!"

'Damn digimon thinking they can come here and hurt us like it's nothing. Wait…' Gatomon thought angrily as she did recognize him.

"You, you're that digimon that attacked us a few days ago." Gatomon pointed an accusing claw at Tai. She recognized the red crystal on his collar.

"Actually you attacked me." Tai said, knowing that it was a bad idea.

"And he really is Tai." Koromon barely whispered but Gatomon heard him. "No he isn't. It's just a trick from some evil digimon trying to ruin our life some more."

Gatomon bared her teeth making Tai back away a bit. He had easily defeated Angewomon but Gatomon was still scary to a rookie. She wasn't that much bigger then him but she's got a mean temper and she was trying to defend Kari from even more pain.

So basically he was in trouble. Big trouble.

"Lightning Paw!" She yelled aiming the attack at Tai. "Oh crap." Tai said as he barely dodged it. "Let's get the hell out of here before Gatomon electrocutes us!"

Koromon jumped onto Tai's back. Tai cringed a bit as the heavyweight digimon weighed down on him. 'He's not heavy.' Tai thought as he rushed towards the door. 'He's my friend.'

Still there was the problem of the closed door. But that was quickly fixed by his mom who opened the door trying to find the source of all the noise. Tai slipped by her with Koromon still on his back.

Gatomon was still after him, leaving a confused woman standing in the doorway.

Tai ran as fast he could. He had seen Gatomon rip champion level digimon apart with those claws and he was just a rookie.

As he ran outside he wondered why he always ended up in situations like this.

"Destiny sucks!" He yelled as he figured out why. Destiny always led him towards danger. Even now his life was in danger because it was his destiny to save the world again.

"Hey Patamon!" Tai yelled as he saw the rookie flying outside of the apartments. "We need a ride!"

Patamon looked confused. That was until he saw Gatomon run after Tai. She was gaining on him and he nearly reached the end of the hall.

He flew to the end of the hall and since there wasn't any glass he could pick Tai up there. That is if he can lift him. Patamon had never lifted Tai up in his new form but he had a Koromon on his back so it would be hard anyway.

Tai did something unexpected. Instead of just waiting for Patamon to come to them he jumped. Out of the window. From the 5th floor. Gatomon stopped in her tracks. No digimon could be that stupid. Could they? There was only one person she knew would be that stupid but he was six feet under. She quickly banished that thought as she jumped up to see where they had landed.

She couldn't help but laugh as she saw a Patamon attempting to carry the two digimon. He was hardly able to lift the three of them but he managed. She didn't know if he planned this but it worked.

"Hang on tight!" Patamon yelled as he struggled to keep a grip on Tai's fur whilst keeping the three of them in the air. Koromon had wrapped his ears around Tai so he was secure.

"To what?" Tai yelled as he looked down. Maybe this wasn't a good idea after all.

"Good point." Patamon said back.

Patamon was having problems. The two of them just weighed to much. He didn't know how long he could keep them up and he couldn't just land with that murderous cat around.

Either he'd drop Tai or the Koromon would have to jump of Tai's back. He would have to drop one of them.

Meanwhile five floors down.

Joe, Sora, Mimi, Davis and Kari were discussing where to go searching first. Mimi had brought her laptop so they could send the rookie back to where it came from. The only problem was that they were down one digimon as Gatomon refused to wake up. Joe had a huge hangover so he decided to skip some classes. Even though he wouldn't be of much help.

And still he hadn't learned anything as he held a half-full bottle of beer.

"Joe didn't you have enough beer at the party?" Sora asked, worried about the teen doctor.

"Oh come on Sora it's not as if I'm overdoing it." Joe said before drinking some beer.

"Not overdoing it?!" Davis stopped thinking about the rogue digimon for a second. "Yesterday you were dancing on one of the tables, wearing a sheet as a toga and a traffic cone on your head!!"

"And you declared that you were the queen of England.(1)" Mimi added.

Kari had trouble to keep from laughing. She couldn't believe what she had missed. Veemon on the other hand was laughing his ass off.

"When did he do that?" Kari asked innocently. "After you left he found a traffic cone outside and you know the rest."

'That explains where he disappeared to…' Kari thought as she remembered the night before.

"Seriously Joe. You should stop drinking. Now you're just dancing and making a fool of yourself. But who knows what you'll do later." Gomamon looked up at the tall human.

"Wow since when am I the responsible one?" Gomamon asked himself.

"Ever since Joe became a drunk." Veemon said, still laughing a bit.

"Guys I don't have a problem." Joe said as if he didn't care.

"Then stop." Sora said. "It's scary for us to see you like that."

"You know what: I'll stop drinking when I get hit by a meteor."

Patamon flew over at that moment still struggling to keep Tai, Koromon and himself airborne. As Tai heard Joe say 'meteor' he thought of something.

"Drop me." Tai said.

"What??"

"Drop me. You can't hold me up for much longer and Joe will break my fall."

Patamon hesitated for a second but quickly took a deep breath and let go off Tai while Koromon wrapped his ears around Patamon's body.

One moment Joe was standing there smiling like an idiot, the next he got hit in the head with a dog-like digimon.

* * *

I'm being evil again 

A/N: (1) I may have done that once or twice at a party ans speaking out of experience it's funny as hell!

reviews: Lord Pata: He might just do that. Glad you liked it.

Raykou-kun: They're just plain EVIL!!

Hakumei-chan: No problem, I'm glad you reviewed and glad you liked it. I don't know when I'm gonna start with the Digimon-Avatar crossover yet. Probably later this month.

To all my reviewers: thanks for reviewing and let's make the best of this new year!


	16. Truth Revealed

Don't own so don't sue.

* * *

Spirits of destiny

Chapter 16

"Thanks Joe." Tai said as he climbed off the downed teen. Joe just mumbled something about giving up on alcohol since his hangover just got worse.

"Wow" Veemon started. "I didn't see that coming."

"Neither did I." Kari said as she saw the black dog-like digimon get up.

"Hey that's the digimon we're looking for!!" Davis, Mimi and Sora said at the same time.

"Oh crap." Tai said as he scampered off of Joe and away from the digidestined. But he didn't get far as Gatomon blocked his path. She had made her way down to them when he had dropped down on Joe.

"Stay away from her." Gatomon said as she bared her teeth. "Gatomon." Kari just whispered. "He's a liar and a kidnapper. He took Koromon and claimed to be Tai. And he's the one that attacked us a few days ago!"

"What ?!" Joe said as he ignored his headache and got back up. "Gomamon. Whack that digimon back to where he belongs."

Joe didn't really care about the attacks or the kidnapping. Tai was just a very sensitive topic for Joe. He refused to let anyone speak bad about their departed leader and he sure as hell wasn't going to allow someone to act as if he was Tai.

Kari needed a moment to let everything sink in. She did recognize a few features between that champion and this rookie. The crystal and his eyes showed the connection. 'His eyes' Kari thought. 'No it can't be.' The shivering rookie hadn't said anything since Gatomon showed up and now Joe threatened to destroy him. But it couldn't be Tai. Tai wouldn't attack them, no Tai was dead as in not even able to attack anymore.

'Okay this isn't good.' Tai thought as he analyzed his chances. If he digivolved he had a chance against them but if he attacked them now they would never believe him to be Tai. Why was life always this complicated?

'**I told you this would happen. I warned you about this. Humans are foolish creatures, they refuse to believe the truth even if it's right in front of them.'**

It had been a while since his inner digimon spoke to him. And he still hadn't changed his mind about humans.

'Oh just shut up.' Tai thought back to his digimon side which fell silent once more.

Tai would have yelled something else if it weren't for:

**"Gomamon digivolves to…."**

A bright light surrounded the rookie and twisted into a bigger version.

**"Ikkakumon!!"**

Tai gulped. If he didn't digivolve as well Ikkakumon could easily crush him.

Meanwhile Mimi was lost in thought. The digimon had apparently claimed to be Tai and she recognized his voice. But it couldn't be. Tai was gone and couldn't have changed into a digimon. Could he?

"Let me at him let me at him!" Veemon yelled as Davis held him back. "No it's just a rookie so two champions would simply delete him."

"Why can't we just do that? Send him back to the egg to learn some manners."

Tai stared upward for a second. Patamon and Koromon were still hovering above them though none of the humans noticed. His eyes locked for a second with Patamon's, telling him not to interfere. Patamon just nodded. Tai blocked out all the voices and took a deep breath. "Now shut up! All of you!"

Everyone was stunned. Veemon stopped trying to get away from Davis and Ikkakumon accidentally launched a harpoon torpedo towards the sky where it just exploded harmlessly.

"I am Tai! I'm not dead!" Tai had enough of hiding. He should have done this the first time he had found anyone.

"Me and the original digidestined defeated Apocalymon together. We were all reduced to digital dust and then restored to our real forms. We've known each other for like five years. Sora, I've known you since we were kids and Kari you're my little sister, I promised to protect you forever. Davis, those goggles you have used to belong to me. I gave them to you when you first entered the digital world." Not many people knew about this and Tai hoped that it would be enough to convince them.

No one said anything. They just stood there. They hadn't expected that coming from a digimon that small.

'No it can't be.'

'Can it? How else could he know?'

'Could he really be back from the dead?'

'Who else would be so stupid to yell that from the top of his lungs?'

'Like hell he's back. He's just an impostor.'

Joe pushed his glasses back as they slipped to the tip of his nose. "I don't believe you. There's no way someone could come back from the dead as a digimon or whatever."

"Ikkakumon! Get that liar out of here. Delete him if you have to." Joe said coldly.

Ikkakumon had some doubts about this but did as Joe said anyway.

"**Ikkakumon digivolves to…"**

He glowed a bright light as he grew in size and stood up on his hind legs.

"**Zudomon!!**"

The others didn't know what to do. Could that little digimon that Zudomon was about to squash really be Tai. They had seen some strange things in their time in the digital world but for someone to return from the dead as a digimon? That was a new one.

Meanwhile Zudomon had a bit trouble moving between the buildings without damaging them and he wasn't able to hit the small digimon.

Tai's mind went haywire. He had to do something. If he didn't he'd end up a stain on Zudomon's hammer.

"**DemiSphinxmon digivolves to…"**

Tai gathered his energy and glowed a golden light as he took on a more humanlike shape.

"**Lowemon!"**

It felt good having opposable thumbs again.

Mimi, Joe and Kari all gasped for air at the same time.

"He's the one that saved me!" Mimi yelled out. She was right! It was Tai, she did recognize those eyes!

Joe had a similar response. He remembered vaguely how that digimon had dragged him back to the gate but he still wasn't convinced that he was speaking the truth.

Kari didn't do anything. She just remained silent. She couldn't believe it. If that was Tai he would have some explaining to do.

Sora and Davis didn't think anything since they had never seen this kind of digimon.

"Hey Veemon, what the hell is that?"

"Don't know, I've never-

He was cut of by Mimi as she rushed towards Joe.

"Joe! Call Zudomon off!" Mimi said nearly hysterical. "You sure about that?"

Mimi nodded. "We can give him the benefit of the doubt." Kari said as she joined the two of them.

"Fine." Joe said a bit reluctantly. "Zudomon stop the squashing."

Zudomon didn't hear him as he and Tai were locked in battle. Well mostly he was doing the battling as Tai just dodged the numerous hammer strikes.

Just as Joe wanted to repeat what he said Zudomon hit Tai. Right on the head.

Mimi screamed as she saw the lion-like helmet beginning to crack. A nervous looking brown dog showed up and started to bark at the huge walrus.

Zudomon still didn't stop. Since Tai was dazed a bit he wasn't able to run anymore and took another hit from the huge hammer.

Patamon, who had been silent during this entire ordeal, couldn't bare to see this anymore. He had to do something, even if he was just a rookie. He stared at the humans below him. How could they just stand there looking at their shoes when their friend is being pummelled to dead. Again.

He quickly flew to the ground with an outraged Koromon and dropped him with a girl with short brown hair. He then quickly rushed towards the battle.

Meanwhile Zudomon had finally responded to Joe's yelling. But the problem was that he had already been in the process of sending a Vulcan's Hammer towards Tai and Tai didn't seem able to dodge it anymore.

Patamon flew faster then he had ever done before. He had to make it. He had to save his friend.

He made it just in time as the attack was fired at Tai.

Time just stopped for Patamon as he remembered how they met. How Tai had made him shut up when talking to Mimi, how they travelled here. It had only been a few weeks since they met each other and he knew he wouldn't be able to survive this attack. It would even be a miracle if Tai survived it. But he could be deleted peacefully if it made a difference.

The orb on Tai's shoulder shimmered for a second as time started up again. Immediately Patamon felt a burst of power flow through his veins and yelled

"**Patamon digivolves to…"**

He glowed a beautiful orange colour as he shifted towards a human-like digimon and fell to the ground.

"**Baromon!!"**

Baromon only had a split-second to realize what had happened and to do something about their situation.

"Meteor dance!!" he yelled and started dancing a strange and exotic dance. He send a wave of meteors towards the red ray of light coming towards them.

The two attacks clashed together and send rocks and energy flying everywhere. Tai had seen what had happened. He couldn't believe it. Patamon had digivolved to save him but the strangest was that he digivolved into an Armor digimon.

"Maybe I influenced you a bit." Tai said as the newly evolved Baromon prevented him from falling over.

"Just a little bit." Baromon said with a new, deeper voice.

Zudomon had dedigivolved and the rest came running up towards the two digimon.

'_Crack_' Tai's helmet had broken apart from the many hits. The two halves fell from his head, revealing his face for all to see.

"It really is him!" Tai heard someone yell. "But how?" The voices mixed together as he nearly lost consciousness. He dedigivolved to his rookie form and fainted.

"We should take him to my apartment quickly. I think the cops are coming." Tai heard a girl's voice say.

Then everything went black.

* * *

This chapter was hard. VERY hard! Joe and Gomamon are a bit OOC but as I said it was hard. 

Who of you thought Patamon would turn into Seraphimon? Come on be honest. And yes I know that Baromon is an armor evolution. It just seemed cool to turn Patamon into him.

Reviews: Lord Pata: hadn't really thought about that. But she'll see the difference now!

Hakumei-chan: I think the same. Evil rules!

Vigatus: Tai's digivice is six feet under along with his body so no digivolving for Koromon yet. First we're going to do some graverobbing(Yay!!)

Vanhelsing425: Cliff-hangers are what makes reading fun! And yes I am very evil _'evil laugh'_

Thanks for reviewing!


	17. At the edge of the map

Don't own so don't sue.

* * *

Spirits of destiny

Chapter 17

In the Digital World, at the edge of the known map there were two figures. Travelling through uncharted forests and past mountains higher then mount Infinity.

GearDevimon just flew over the peaks while a still possessed Gennai climbed them himself. His body was broken and worn but a dark force pushed his body further till it would break apart.

Eventually they reached the entrance of a cave. The walls were covered by writings, telling the story of the Digital World since the dawn of time. Most scholars would kill for a glance at them. But GearDevimon ignored them. They were worthless to him as he sought something more valuable.

After wandering the cave for what seemed like hours he and his puppet found their goal.

A door, crafted from steel and marked with the symbols of the Ancients. It was easily ten metres high and looked very sturdy as if created with the intent of never allowing anything to enter.

GearDevimon smirked. Taking to the air he rushed towards the door trying to break it down. The symbols glowed and GearDevimon was thrown back.

"Gennai!" He yelled. "Open this door at once! I know you're able to!"

Gennai just remained silent, refusing to answer the one that had enslaved him.

"Come on Gennai, let's not go over this again. You can't fight my control." GearDevimon said arrogantly.

The digital human still remained silent.

"Fine." Geardevimon was tired of playing the old man's games. He just reached out towards the darkness clouding his mind.

Gennai fell to his knees as the dark creatures searched his mind for the answers. But still he refused to go down without a fight. He fought to push GearDevimon out of his mind but he was fighting a losing battle.

"Interesting." GearDevimon said as found what he was looking for in Gennai's mind.

"So only the ancients can open this gate." He snarled. "Then we'll just have to 'convince' them to open it up."

Meanwhile in a different world.

Tai was still knocked out but his mind was active again. As he expected his other side was complaining again.

'**You truly are an idiot. We're screwed now!'**

'Can't you keep quiet? I've got a massive headache.'

'**Fine I'll shut up but I told you that they would attack you. Your precious friends nearly made ****a stain out of you.'**

Tai thought about that. In a way he was right but Tai hadn't expected for them to welcome him with open arms either.

"_In other news: a huge digimon was seen fighting two smaller ones this afternoon. There's no trace of either but the destruction caused by them was great though no one was hurt during the attack."_

Tai vaguely heard the news report as he slowly woke up. He slowly opened his eyes and quickly closed them again because of the bright light.

As he opened them again they didn't stung anymore. He saw the face of some reporter standing in front of his apartment building.

Slowly he moved his head around a bit, hoping that no one had noticed him being awake yet.

Apparently he was lying on a pillow on the couch in his living room. Next to him sat an human-like digimon though he was bigger then most people he knew.

Baromon hadn't noticed the stirring of his protégé. He was to focused on the TV. He had never seen anything like this. He had seen some TV sets in the Digital World but those didn't have tiny humans trapped in them, though one of the humans had explained that it were just images of people. Whatever that means...

Tai slowly stood up but dropped down again. Baromon noticed this and finally turned his attention away from the silver screen.

"So you're finally awake?" He asked while he still looked at the TV from the corner of his eye.

"More or less." Tai responded as he tried to stand up again. Baromon just pushed him down again. "You're not getting up. That Zudomon nearly killed you."

Tai snarled a bit at the bigger digimon but knew it was useless. In this state he had trouble supporting his own weight so he probably wouldn't be able to push Baromon's hand away.

Kari was in the kitchen. She had to take her mind of the subject of Tai. She still wasn't sure about it. But Koromon and that strange Baromon had claimed that it was the truth.

She flipped the pancake over and allowed it to bake on the other side.

She had sent the others home even though they didn't want to leave her right now. Mom was out for a while and dad wouldn't show up for a few hours so she had enough time to sort things out.

Gatomon and Koromon were supposed to keep an eye on the two new digimon but had both fallen asleep on duty. Kari looked over to the living room to see two snoring digimon, a brown dog that had somehow found his way inside and two awake digimon.

'He's awake!' Was all that went through her mind. She quickly rushed to the living room, forgetting all about her cooking.

She quickly sat down next to the rookie. She had seen his face when he was a champion but there was no trace of it now, except for his eyes.

Tai turned towards her, still not really getting up but supporting himself on his front paws. There he was, sitting like a real dog and looking up to his little sister.

"Hey Kari." He said softly. He was still ashamed about what had happened a few days ago.

As Kari heard his voice she made the same connection as Mimi did. He sounded just like he did when he left for summer camp.

"Tai?" She asked, confused about what to believe now.

The pup just nodded. Kari didn't know what else to do and grabbed him tight in a hug. Tai winced a bit. Kari immediately let go of him.

"Oh God I'm so sorry." Kari nearly started to cry. "It's okay, it's not that bad." Tai told her even though it stung badly.

Neither of them noticed a bit of greyish smoke coming from the kitchen.

Baromon decided to remain silent for a while as the two of them got reacquainted.

"Tai is that really you?" Kari asked just to be sure. Tai nodded. "It really is me. I'm back."

Kari smiled for a second before turning angry. "Damn it Tai. Why did you do that? Why did you left us?"

Tai hadn't really expected that from his kind sister. But he knew someone would ask that.

"I don't know why, maybe it was my time to go."

Kari calmed down again. "Okay, good enough but how did you come back?"

"Long story short, some guy named AncientSphinxmon and Gennai trapped my soul in one of these." He motioned to his collar and more specific to the crystal. "And then the made me a new body but my soul didn't want to stay in it so they used some dark powers and here I am."

"Wow. I didn't now Gennai had that power." Kari said.

"Neither did I." Tai responded and yawned.

"Aaww the puppy is tired." Kari said trying not to laugh. "Hey!" Tai exclaimed. "I may be cute but I'm still human. I think."

"O God mom's gonna freak when she sees you, you know how she is about dogs. And not to mention that dad's allergic. So we'll probably have to get rid of your friend here to." She pointed at the dog at Baromon's feet who barked as he understood her. Tai smiled a bit, that's typical Kari. Always thinking about what other people think or feel. He was glad that his sister had hardly changed at all.

"Don't worry they'll freak even more when they find out that it's me." Tai said a bit gloomy.

"Probably." Kari said cheerful as always.

"Where are the others?" Tai asked to change the subject.

"I sent them home. I told them I was gonna find out if you were Tai or not."

"And since I found out that you are Tai I'm calling a meeting for tomorrow." Kari continued. Tai sighed a bit. He did it, he had returned home and Kari knew he was alive. But now he wanted to sleep. He just laid his head on his forepaws and yawned again.

Kari stroked his back a bit. Tai unconsciously wagged his tail. Kari giggled at this.

"Eh I hate to break up this beautiful moment and I don't know much about human cuisine but it isn't supposed to burn, is it? Kari shrieked and ran back to the kitchen. She quickly pulled the smoking frying pan of the stove. Tai laughed as he saw his sister struggle to get the smoke to clear. He slowly fell asleep again.

Meanwhile TK was walking up and down the hallway outside of Kari's home. He had brought a small bouquet of flowers. He needed to apologize to Kari for the past few days. He loved her but was afraid to tell her. Everyone he cared about disappeared from his life. Even though most found their way back to him, it still hurt.

He didn't want that to happen again.

Patamon hovered next to him, mimicking the pattern TK walked. "Are we going inside or are we going to work on our cardio some more?" He asked a bit annoyed.

TK simply knocked on the door. "Coming!" He heard Kari's voice yell.

Moments later the door was unlocked.

"TK, Patamon come on in." Kari said with a smile. As TK entered he immediately noticed the scent of something burning.

Kari rushed back into the kitchen. TK followed her while Patamon only paid attention to a sleeping Gatomon.

"How've you been TK? I haven't seen you since Davis burned down the school."

"I'm fine." TK mumbled a bit. "It's just… I'm sorry for how I've been acting the last two months."

Kari motioned him to sit down at the table with her. While he did so he didn't notice the two new digimon in the living room.

"It's just with Tai's death and all. I haven't been myself since then. I was afraid that fate would take you from me as well so I kinda…"

TK searched for the right words. But Kari understood what he meant.

"So you tried to distance yourself from me."

TK nodded.

"TK." She said as she took his hand. "I'm not going anywhere."

"I know that but it's just that feeling that one moment you could be here and the next you could be gone."

Silence for some time.

"For who're the flowers?" Kari asked breaking the uncomfortable silence.

"Oh these?" TK had forgotten he was holding them. "They're for you." TK blushed a bit as he gave them to her.

"They're beautiful." Kari said as she stood up to find a vase for the flowers.

TK released a breath of air, glad he had survived that.

He decided to take a look around the house.

TK didn't expect to see that. A strange clothed man with a oni-like mask sat on the couch with a brown dog lying at his feet.

"Eh Kari, a question." Kari returned with a small vase.

"What?" She asked as she put some water in the vase and placed the flowers in it. She placed it in the middle of the table.

TK just pointed at the digimon on the couch who was now conversing with his own digimon.

"Oh that's Baromon. Didn't you get Yolei's e-mail?"

"Eh…" TK checked his D-terminal. _Five new message(s) _

It had been a while since he last checked it.

He opened Yolei's mail and quickly red it.

"Is he that digimon you were looking for? Why didn't you just send him back?" He asked as he finished reading.

"Oh he isn't that one. You see the one next to him? That's the one." Kari said as she started to smile. "Want to meet him?" She asked while as her smile grew even bigger.

"Okay." TK said a bit suspicious about what Kari was smiling about.

"So you used to be a Patamon just like me?" TK heard Patamon asking the humanoid digimon.

"Yes, when the sun was still high this same day I was a Patamon but now I am Baromon! Even though I'm not used to not being able to fly."

Patamon watched him with interest. He had hardly ever met any other Patamon let alone their digivolutions.

"Hey Baromon." Kari said as she dragged TK towards the living room. "Meet TK. TK, Baromon. Baromon, TK."

"Hey." TK said nervously as Baromon stood up. "Greetings TK I am honoured to meet you."

"Since when do you talk like that?" Kari eyed him strangely. "Five minutes ago you talked like a normal digimon."

"Yes but with this new form I acquired I find myself in need of a new way of talking." He smiled, which was very strange to see since his face was a mask.

"You're even weirder then Tai." Kari said, rolling her eyes at the same time. "You could be right about that milady." He had copied some words from the TV and now spoke a strange blend of normal and difficult words.

"Did you know Tai?" TK interrupted, all signs of nervousness gone.

"That's what I wanted to tell you. Tai's not dead!" Kari said, trying to contain her enthusiasm. Baromon meanwhile turned his attention back at Patamon

"What?" TK was baffled by this. "Tai's gone. How can he not be dead. I mean we were there…"

"Yeah I know but he's back." Meanwhile Tai stirred a bit in his sleep as if he knew they were talking about him.

"Okay, this is weird." TK placed his hands on Kari's shoulders. "If and I mean IF he's back then were is he?"

Kari sensed TK's disbelief. But she couldn't blame him. At first she hadn't believed it either.

"He's here." She pointed at the dog-like creature laying on a pillow, sound asleep.

TK took a good look at the dog-like digimon. "This isn't funny you know that?"

"But he really is your until recently deceased comrade Taichi Kamiya." Baromon added as he overheard the conversation.

"No that can't be. I mean he died. We all saw it." TK's head started to spin.

"Just ask him yourself." TK sat down next to the puppy.

"Tai, Tai, Tai…" Kari sat on the other side of Tai. "Five more minutes." Tai mumbled before rolling over. 'Well he does act like Tai.' TK thought.

"TK's here." This made Tai wake up instantly. "I'm up." He jumped up a bit, only to regret it a second later as his entire body ached.

"Hey TK." Tai said softly, looking up but trying to avoid the boy's eyes.

"No it can't be." But TK recognized the voice. He had looked up to Tai when he was young and now Tai looked up at him.

"TK it's really me. I'm back." Tai said calmly.

TK's mind was at war. One side wanted to believe what the pup and Kari said. The other side told him that it wasn't true.

So his mind did the only possible thing.

TK fell over. Knocked out by the recent information.

"Okay I didn't really see that coming." Tai said as he saw the unconscious boy laying on the floor.

Patamon ran over to TK trying to wake him. Seeing that his attempts were futile he turned his attention to Tai. "It really is you, isn't it?"

"Yes it's me." Tai responded starting to get annoyed with convincing people. And he had only convinced two- three if you count TK- but he knew it would be hard.

"Glad you're back. TK broke down when you died. He's really fond of you though he'll never admit it." Patamon smiled.

"A strange question maybe but why do you act so normal?" Tai found TK's reaction to be quite normal but Patamon acted as if he knew all along.

"I had a hunch." Patamon smirked. "When we 'met' the first time. Your eyes seemed familiar to me and I was right. Gatomon thought the same"

"I'm sorry about that day. I wasn't myself then."

"Forget it. We're all friends, remember?"

Kari turned her attention to the downed teen. That strange brown dog was licking his face. She pulled him away, still wondering how he got inside.

'Must have followed us.' She thought.

"Baromon could you put him on the couch?" Kari asked the champion.

Kari picked Tai up and put him down on the floor along with his pillow so Baromon could place the motionless body of TK down.

"He took it rather well." Kari said, not able to suppress a laugh.

"You've already fainted half of all the humans that know your real identity." Baromon said. "How many others will faint as well?"

"That's not funny." Tai said annoyed.

"I bet at least half of them." Kari said. "I bet three of them." Patamon pitched in.

If Tai was able to he would have slapped both of them.

"What's all the ruckus about?" A familiar voice said. Gatomon had woken up and at the same time woke up Koromon.

"We're just betting about the number of casualties there gonna be." Kari laughed. "What do you mean?" Gatomon asked as she tilted her head in confusion.

"When we told TK about Tai he fainted, so we're betting about how many others will do the same."

"Oh okay." Gatomon said still a bit drowsy.

"Wait so he really IS Tai?!?" Gatomon nearly fell over but quickly snapped out of it.

"But how did you come back?" Gatomon asked as she rushed over to the rookie. "I told you he was back!" Koromon yelled while buncing around in the background.

"Long story and I don't feel like telling it every time we meet anyone new. I'll tell the entire story tomorrow when the others are here."

Gatomon stared at him, checking him over and studying her brother's new look. She saw him as some kind of big brother since Kari was her family.

Tai felt a bit uncomfortable as she kept staring at him.

She then pulled him into a hug. Tai flinched again as she squeezed the air out of his lungs.

"Did I hurt you?" Gatomon asked worried about him. "No. Zudomon did."

Gatomon remained quiet for a while.

"I apologise for attacking you and called you a liar." She said as she looked down at the floor.

"Don't. I'm the one that should be apologizing. I nearly killed you a few days ago." Tai said as he stared at the ground as well.

She smiled grimly. "I knew I saw those eyes before but to think they belonged to you." This would have been a very emotional moment if it weren't for Koromon pouncing the two of them.

An hour or so later TK was back on his way home. He finally regained consciousness and nearly lost it again as he saw Tai sitting on the ground.

Tomorrow would be a very emotional day. It doesn't happen often that a person you thought dead returned from the grave. The others were going to discover that tomorrow. The same with Tai's parents. Kari thought it to be better for to tell them last.

TK laughed at that thought. To prevent someone from finding out she had to hide Baromon, Tai and that dog in her room. It didn't really help when that same dog started barking at that moment.

For the first time in weeks he was humming a song. It seemed as if the broken shards of his life were mended again. Patamon hovered next to him.

"Oh man I can't wait to see Matt's face tomorrow." TK said as he arrived home. "He'll never see it coming." He said to Patamon as he opened the door.

Live was good. For now.

Meanwhile at different spots throughout the city people received the same e-mail.

_Everybody meet tomorrow at my place around 11 o'clock . We've got something important to discuss._

_Signed Kari_

Four teens knew what she was talking about and could hardly wait to go.

Four others scratched their heads in confusion at reading that message, wondering what required a meeting.

A red-headed teen opened the mail. He sighed and just clicked the delete-button.

* * *

I don't know why but this chapter feels like filler (even though this is the longest chapter I ever wrote).

I probably won't be able to update as fast anymore since school started again.

reviews: Fruitloop Trooper: I like writing, that's why I update whenever I can. They'll find out soon and I don't know yet if Tai'll be a partner digimon or something else.

Lord Pata: Happy? I've had a bit of trouble getting TK into this but now he's back!

Vigatus: Thanks and I can't wait for that chapter as well.

Thanks for reviewing!


	18. Those who know

Don't own so don't sue.

* * *

Spirits of destiny

Chapter 18

Tai tried to sleep.

He tried to take his mind of tomorrow, when he would be reintroduced to his human friends. His friends who still thought him dead.

He sighed a bit as he turned over on his bed. He faced an already asleep Koromon. Next to him was Gatomon. She was sound asleep as well. Normally she would lay in Kari's bed but she had pledged to never let the two of them out of her eyesight ever again.

'Tomorrow.' Tai thought as he turned over again. 'I wonder what they'll say.'

Tai laughed inwardly. They'd probably all freak out. Maybe two or three would faint. If he was lucky three. He had bet four people would faint after he had scowled Kari for a while. If he got lucky he'd win five dollars each from Kari, Patamon and Baromon. But what could he do with money? It wasn't as if he'd need it anymore.

'I wonder what they'll think of me.' Tai thought as he heard his father pass his room and enter his own. 'Will they reject me, fear me or accept me? What will mom and dad say?'

Tai sighed. 'Tomorrow we'll know.' Was his last conscious thought before he fell asleep.

It had been a while since he had a normal night. Most other nights he'd just have nightmare's about how his family and friends would react to him, how they glared at him in disgust. But Kari and TK had already proven these dreams wrong. They were glad to see him.

'**Were they?' **Tai's other side spoke up. **'Were they glad to see you or glad that they could see you die again?'**

'Why can't you just accept that they are happy that I'm back? Accept that not every human will try to kill me.'

'**Don't say I didn't warn you.' **The Lowemon look-a-like disappeared again.

'Twit.'

Day came and Kari woke up. If she remembered correctly it was Saturday. She quickly realised something else. She only had two hours before the others would show up.

She quickly jumped out of bed. Kari took a quick look at the bed below hers. There were Tai, Koromon and Gatomon still asleep. She poked the black dog-like digimon.

"Tai. Tai. Wake up." She said as she attempted to wake the teen-turned-digimon.

"Five more minutes." Tai mumbled as he rolled over.

Kari sighed. 'No question about it. That's really Tai.' No matter what time it was or what day or even what form he was. Tai always used that as an excuse not to get up.

She quickly prepared and clothed herself. Ten minutes later she wore a pair of jeans and a white T-shirt. And Tai still wasn't up.

Kari thought to herself of how to wake him up. She had done so for years since he would never get up out of free will.

Deciding to tease him a bit she leaned over and whispered in his ear. "Tai wake up. Mom saw you and called a dogcatcher!" Tai quickly opened his eyes and jumped up.

"Aaaahh!" Tai quickly checked for an escape route. Till he realised Kari was laughing.

"That's not funny." He pouted.

"Actually it is." Koromon said as he hoped up and down on the bed. Tai's yell had awoken him and Gatomon as well.

"Keep it down a bit. Some people need their catnaps." Gatomon said as she jumped of the bed.

"You shouldn't freak out that fast Tai." Kari tried to stop laughing but failed.

Tai waited patiently till she stopped laughing, growing more annoyed.

"Now seriously since when are you afraid of the dogcatcher?" Tai thought over that for a second.

"Must come with the body, the same with the powers and voice in my head."

"Ehh voice in your head?" Gatomon asked, trying not to yell at Koromon who was still jumping on the bed. He was starting to annoy her.

"Never mind." Tai said quickly. "I think that was just something that comes naturally. Fear of old fat people with big nets." He said to Kari.

"Still strange. Oh man Izzy's going to have fun studying this." Her face grew a bit more neutral. "That is if he shows up."

"What do you mean?" Tai asked a bit confused.

"She means that we haven't seen or heard from him for like a month and a half." Gatomon spoke up.

"He retreated himself to his room and hardly speaks to us. The only time we see him is at school and even then he hardly says two words to us." Kari said gloomy.

"We'll just have to fix that." Tai responded. "If he doesn't show up I'll pay him a visit myself."

Kari smiled at that. "He'll like that."

"Hey where's Baromon?" Tai asked, noticing his newest friend wasn't here.

Kari laughed. "He's probably still asleep." She walked over to a closet. She quickly opened it up.

In that closet stood a strange demonic man. He seemed sound asleep. A brown dog was laying at his feet also asleep.

Tai nearly dropped of the bed as he saw that. He regained his composure and jumped off of it himself. He noticed his ribs didn't hurt as much as they did yesterday.

He hurried to the closet. "Hey Baromon wake up." Said digimon did so.

Baromon stepped carefully over the still sleeping dog and stretched.

"I don't know what that Potter lad from the TV is complaining about." He said before yawning and scratching his back.

"It's actually quite comfortable in there." He continued.

If Tai was able to he would have jumped up and kicked his ass. Before he could do so the dog woke up as well. He started barking as he saw Tai standing there. He quickly ran over to him and started to lick him.

"Stop it." Tai said. The dog stopped and walked to Baromon's side.

"How did he even get in here?" Gatomon asked as she eyed the dog. Thank God Miko wasn't here. She would probably make a big fuss about this. She had run off yesterday and hadn't been seen since.

"Baromon let him in." Kari pointed at the demon man.

"Maybe I did do that milady but he is a valuable companion and he may bring aid to our noble cause." As he said that he lifted his left arm in triumph.

"The more he talks the less I understand about him." Koromon said.

"And what 'noble cause' are you talking about?" Kari asked annoyed by the digimon's new vocabulary.

"A cause most noble which we will-" "Tell you about later." Tai cut him off.

"Very well my companion." Baromon said. "Come on Phoenix towards the big white food container!" Baromon said as he and his dog ran towards the kitchen. Thank God mom wasn't home.

"Phoenix?" Tai asked.

"He's been watching the Harry Potter movies." Kari responded.

"Oh. Well that explains a lot." Tai said as he also made his way to the kitchen. He didn't want to let Baromon and Phoenix have all the food to themselves.

Kari, Gatomon and Koromon followed him as well.

"Normally I'd cook." Tai started. "But I don't have opposable thumbs." He showed his paws to Kari.

Kari just shrugged.

When breakfast ended Tai looked well like any digimon after breakfast. Covered in crumbs. And dog drool and apparently blood, showing his struggle with Zudomon.

So Kari decided to give him a bath.

"Hell no!" Tai said before running away when she suggested that. Kari sighed. This was going a long day.

Tai just ran. He was small enough to stay out of Kari's reach and fast enough to outrun her.

He thought he was safe. Until a pair of arms scooped him up.

"Baromon put me down." Tai struggled to get out of his grip. "I don't want to take a bath! I just-" Baromon silenced him by covering his mouth. 'Revenge!' went through Baromon's mind as he remembered how many times Tai made him shut up.

Under loud protests from Tai Baromon handed him to Kari, who took him to the bath room.

Tai never really liked taking baths, he was more of a shower person. But Kari didn't give him a choice as she just dropped him into the water. Even though it was quite warm he shivered a bit as Kari began scrubbing his head to get the blood out.

It took a while to clean off all the dirt and blood he'd gathered since his last bath (which was a looooong time ago) but she managed.

When she finished cleaning him she picked Tai up and placed him on a towel. He was still dripping wet and tried to escape the towel his sister used to dry him off.

By the time Kari was finished she was exhausted, annoyed and wet from all the water Tai splashed at her trying to escape. And Tai was clean, more or less. His fur still showed marks of a struggle.

That was an other problem. His fur. When she dried it, well… It looked as if Tai was a huge ball of fluff. Kari had trouble containing her laugh. That was until Tai faded way in a cloud of smoke and drifted away.

Kari was baffled. Her brother just melted away. Fear struck her for a second. Maybe he couldn't stand water. Maybe he melted because of it.

'No that can't be it.' She thought as she stood up. In the other room she suddenly heard laughter.

She quickly ran there to see a puffy looking dog standing in the middle of the living room.

Relieved that he was okay she ran to him and picked him up. "What?" Tai asked as innocently as he could.

"How did you do that?" Kari asked, ignoring the fact that he escaped her for a sec.

"As I said before it comes with the body." Tai responded, trying to get away from his sister.

"For a second there I thought you melted." Kari laughed at the struggling rookie. "Don't worry about it." Baromon said. "He does so whenever he has a chance."

Kari took Tai back to the bathroom and combed him. He still looked a bit puffy but he looked better than he did before.

"Okay now that's over we should be getting ready for the others. They'll be here in a half-hour." Kari said as he put Tai down in the living room.

Thirty minutes. Tai began to feel some fear again. What if they wouldn't accept him?

He quickly pushed that fear back. He didn't become digidestined of courage by chickening out of situations like these. At moments like these all you could do was sit back and enjoy the ride.

"Hey Tai." Koromon said, pulling Tai out of his thoughts. "How do you like being a digimon?"

Tai thought over his answer. Did he actually like being a digimon? Of course he didn't actually hate the change but actually like it? He wasn't sure.

"I don't know. On one hand it feels like I've been stripped of my humanity, on the other I've never felt so strong as I do now. It's confusing. It's as if I'm two persons in one body"

Koromon had expected an answer like that. After knowing Tai for years he knew how he felt about big changes. And this was a BIG change.

"I think I understand. Sort of." Koromon responded. "If you've got questions about being a digimon just ask me. After all I've been a digimon way longer then you have." Koromon said with a smug grin before hopping away.

"Hey!" Tai said with an annoyed tone as he initiated pursuit of the pink ball.

Kari sighed as she saw the duo ransacked the living room. Baromon was back on the couch watching the imprisoned little men on the silver screen.

"What's wrong Kari?" Gatomon asked as she jumped on top of the counter in the kitchen.

"I don't know." Kari said as she sighed again. "It's just. He's changed a bit in attitude."

Gatomon of course knew who she was talking about. "Don't worry to much about that. Getting changed into a digimon does that to you. I mean, I'm surprised he still acts like he used to before you-know-what."

"What do you mean?" Kari asked, more then a little confused about Gatomon's answer.

"I mean that since he's a rookie level now he acts a bit childish. I suspect that his champion level acts more like he did before he…" Gatomon fell silent. She hated mentioning Tai's death.

"Kind of like with other digimon?" Kari asked beginning to understand what Gatomon was trying to say.

"That's what I meant. All digimon act different in different levels of digivolution But we always stay the same being."

"When did you learn so much about digimon nature?" Kari asked lifting an eyebrow. "You learn a lot from siding with evil for so long…" Gatomon said quietly.

Kari decided not to go further on this topic. After all these years Gatomon still had scars on her soul. Scars that would never heal.

Gatomon hopped off the counter, running off to find a quiet place. Kari returned her attention to her brother and his digimon, who were now trying to steal the remote from Baromon.

A knock on the door made her snap back to reality. As she opened the door she saw the smiling face of TK.

"Thought you'd need some help preparing." He said a bit sheepish. Kari just smiled and motioned him and Patamon to come in.

"I've prepared everything more or less. The only thing I need is something to prevent me from having a nervous breakdown." Kari said laughing a bit as Patamon flew past her to the living room.

"You should just relax Kari. The others will understand." Kari eyed him strangely. "Okay maybe they won't immediately." TK said blushing a bit.

Kari checked the clock. Only ten minutes left before the first digidestineds would show up. She knew that Cody and Ken would show up way to late due to Kendo lessons and family respectively. Davis would probably end up coming to late as well, even though he knew this was very big news.

Mimi would probably show up first. Kari had always known that she had a thing for Tai. You'd have to be a fool not to see that. Which explained why Tai never noticed. She tried not to laugh at that thought.

A knock on the door.

"This is it!" Kari said as she walked back to the door and opened it once more to allow the first digidestineds in.

"Hey Joe. Mimi, Sora." She had expected this group to come first.

"So tell us. Is it really him?" Mimi said talking rather fast so Kari understood something like this: 'Sotellus isitreallyhim.'

"Ehh." Kari just said. "What she means is can we come in?" Palmon said. "She's a bit overstimulated." Palmon continued.

"You don't say." Gomamon said. "She nearly dragged us here."

"Just come in" Kari said feeling a bit awkward as they discussed this matter in the hallway.

"Hey guys." TK said as the three people and their digimon entered the apartment.

"Hey TK." Joe said, while the two girls just nodded.

The digimon immediately left for the living room as they were not really interested in meetings. After all there was nothing evil threatening the Digital World. Was there?

Tai didn't notice the humans come in as he was watching the news with Baromon, Patamon and Koromon. The reporter mentioned something about how the police asked about information or witnesses of the digimon attack yesterday.

Palmon, Gomamon and Biyomon however noticed immediately that there was a newcomer. Two actually.

"This may seem impolite but are you really Tai?" Palmon asked. Tai was startled a bit since he hadn't noticed them coming in. He jumped down from the couch. The numb pain he felt earlier had completly disappeared. After all: digimon heal fast.

"I am Tai." He said calmly. "He really is." Gatomon said as she appeared out of nowhere.

Ther were a lot of reactions Tai was expecting from the digimon. Anger, fear, disbelief. But apparently they took Gatomon's word for the truth. And before Tai was even able to blink he was pounced by Palmon and Biyomon.

"We can't believe! You're not dead!" The two of them said nearly simultaneous.

Tai could hardly breath, so tight was the hug he was in. "Ehh ladies I need air to live." He managed to say.

The two of them quickly let go, still not really believing that this was real.

"So you're really here. I could have sworn you were pushing up digiflowers." Gomamon said looking away a bit.

"I was but I'm back. I'll tell the entire story when everyone's here." Tai said as he walked over to the seal-like digimon.

"And sorry about nearly squishing you into a bloody pulp." Gomamon said with a smile on his face. He held out a paw.

"No problem, but I don't have any hands to shake yours with." Tai said a bit embarrassed as he lifted one of his own paws.

"Neither do I." Gomamon said as he grabbed Tai's paw. "Good handshake for someone without an opposable thumb." Gomamon laughed.

"Why does everyone keep rubbing that in." Tai said as he looked down.

A scream of joy made Tai flinch and before he knew it he was up in the air. Apparently Kari had convinced Mimi, Joe and Sora. And now he was in a hug with Mimi. Just like the two digimon before her she squeezed the air out of him, muttering something in the meanwhile.

"Oh Tai I can't believe it. You're here, you're really here…" She continued like that for a while before placing him back on the ground.

Joe stepped up to him. He just stared at Tai with those eyes of his. "I knew it!!" he suddenly yelled and picked Tai up. "You're just to stubborn to stay dead!"

Tai was a bit thrown back by Joe's reaction. Yesterday he tried to get him killed. Today he was accusing him of being stubborn. How life could change so quickly Tai would never understand.

There was only one person left in the room who hadn't said anything. Joe held Tai up with one hand and motioned her to come closer. She had kept a distance from Tai since she just couldn't believe it.

Joe handed Tai to her. She held him firmly and looked in his eyes. Tai looked back. She immediately recognised those brown eyes. The same brown eyes she was so many years ago when they invited her to come play soccer.

"Tai?" She asked softly. Tai just nodded. Sora started laughing. "Oh man you don't know how happy I am to see you." She smiled. "And to think Mimi nearly made you her pet. And we nearly got you fixed."

"That was NOT funny." Tai said with a pout.

"Actually that was very funny." Mimi pitched in.

"Eh did I miss something?" Kari asked wanting to know what was so funny.

"Well we found Tai here and Mimi decided to keep him as a pet. I told him we were going to neuter him. And you know the rest of the story."

Kari was laughing along with the rest of the group. "Yes very funny. Can we talk about something else? Please?" Tai said very annoyed.

As they waited for other digidestined to show up they watched TV. Kari had to get some more chairs since all of them couldn't fit on the couch.

Mimi sat next to Baromon with Tai on her lap. She had refused to put the small dog digimon down since she didn't want to lose sight of him ever again. "Great two more eyes staring at me." Was his reaction to this news.

"Hey human girl." Baromon said suddenly. "I have a question for you milady."

"Ask away." She said, recognising his voice from when he and Tai saved her in the Digital world. It didn't took her long to figure that out. Though his vocabulary had changed a bit since then.

"Yesterday and just now you mentioned the art of fixing. What do you mean by that. I mean your comrade here isn't broken, is he?" Phoenix looked up from as he heard that dreadfull word.

Mimi and the others had to try hard not to laugh. Baromon didn't understand. "What is so funny about fixing your friend." At this everyone burst out laughing. Except of course Tai.

Tai was thankful for his layer of fur since now nobody could see he was blushing.

Mimi was the first to stop laughing and explained it to him. "Well that means…" She whispered something in Baromon's ear.

Baromon's face went white, which was odd since his face was, of course, a mask.

"You monsters!" He said with his eyes wide open. Then he decided to say goodbye to the real world for a while.

"He fainted." Joe said calmly. As an occasional fainter he knew a lot about the subject but not among digimon.

"Soooo…" Tai started. "Does this count toward the casualties number?"

* * *

Wow. I never thought this story would get 100 reviews. I thank each and everyone of you for your support and help. You all rule!!

Reviews: Lord Pata: Glad you liked it and you really can learn a lot from TV. I learned to speak and write English from it. All hail TV!!

Raykou-kun: Thanks and yes that was Koushiro (or Izzy)

Rubberman2025: You are my 100th reviewer. And thanks for the name. I've been looking for one for some time but couldn't find a good one. To your other review: I doubt I'll give Jun any superpowers but I will give her a D3 and a Gigimon later on in the story. By the way did you get my PM?

GRX3m0m: He won't show up anytime soon but I've got an evil surprise for him 'Evil laugh'

Fruitloop Trooper: I know you didn't mean anything by it. As I said: I just like writing (You probably noticed since this is a new chapter) And suspect the dog! He may look innocent but he isn't

Vigatus: I bloody hate them!

Oversized bucket: That chapter will come soon. And I'll probably won't make Tai a partner digimon. But I do have some other surprises for him.

Firehedgehog: Glad you did and glad you liked it

Lemo: thanks

By the way: did any of you recieve my PM's? I sent them to GRX3m0m, Rubberman2025 and blltiger. Please mention it if you did or didn't.


	19. Let me tell you a tale

Don't own so don't sue.

* * *

Spirits of destiny

Chapter 19

It had been a long time since Tai's life had been going rather well. Here he was sitting on Mimi's lap. Most guys would kill to be in his place, even if it involved becoming furry.

The way she rubbed just below his ears, it felt wonderful.

'_Knock__ knock'_

"Let's get this started." Tai said as he pulled himself away from Mimi. "Again." He added as he ran to the door with Kari chasing after him.

Tai decided to win the bet he started with Kari, Baromon and Patamon. And since Baromon's fainting didn't count he only had a few more chances to faint three persons.

"**DemiSphinxmon digivolves to…**

Every human and digimon eyes were on the dog-like creature that glowed and stretched out into a more human form.

"**Lowemon!"**

On the other side of the door a certain rock star, a Kendo specialist, a computer geek and a former dark lord saw the light coming from under the door. They didn't bring their digimon since they didn't feel like attending some boring meeting. After all: there was nothing threatening the Digital World right now.

The door opened revealing a face all of them thought dead. Tai's helmet had been shattered yesterday and had apparently disappeared entirely revealing his face to the entire world (or in this case just his friends.)

If Tai had to choose which reaction was best he would have to go for Matt's.

The guitar hero resembled a fish gasping for air as he opened and closed his mouth several times without any sound coming out.

Ken on the other hand was smiling, either out of confusion or fear. His long hair obscured the rest of his face as it fell in front of his eyes as he nearly fell backwards at the sight of Tai.

Cody just dropped down in a motionless heap. His hand still clenching his shinai in his left hand.

Yolei did the same as Cody, losing her glasses in the process.

As his two still concious friends stood there Tai thought of a nasty joke.

"What's the matter? The four of you look like you saw a ghost." Tai couldn't help himself. He just had to say that.

"Hey Kari! They took it rather well!" Tai yelled back to his friends. He quickly pulled the two humans and what was left of their sanity into the apartment. He also picked up Cody and Yolei. Even though Cody had grown a lot since they first met Tai was still able to carry him with ease, even though his digimon body might have something to do with that. Yolei was still the light-weight girl he remembered.

Kari guided the two still awake digidestined to the couch while Tai laid Yolei and Cody down on the ground in the living room. He couldn't put them in his room since Baromon was still knocked out on his own bed. Tai had laughed as the others dragged the oni digimon to the bedroom. He had used his 'no opposable thumbs' excuse again.

They'd probably be mad for not helping them when he could digivolve easily.

TK saw the champion level. Even though he had seen him before like this he still thought it weird. Maybe it was because Tai didn't have a helmet anymore or because last time they were attacking each other.

Kari and Tai had told him about what had happened. He understood more or less.

And it was funny as hell to see his big brother rendered a sputtering vegetable.

"You you're…" Matt regained his speaking ability slowly. "You're supposed to be dead man!" Matt uttered as he stood up again.

"I'm not anymore." Then something happened nobody, except Tai, was expecting. Matt punched him on the face. Tai's cheek felt sore.

"You bastard. How dare you die on us and then come back." Matt continued so Tai responded by punching Matt on the face as well, though he held back a bit.

The two stared at each other for a second or two and then broke into a hug.**(1)**

"I really don't understand boys." Mimi said. "One second they're beating the crap out of each other, the next they're hugging." Sora and Kari both agreed by nodding.

"That's a guy thing, you'll probably never understand ." Joe said as shifted a bit in his seat.

"Men!" Kari, Mimi and Sora sighed at the same time.

"Hey we weren't hugging. It's called a man hug. It's very manly." Matt responded as he let go off Tai.

"No one's questioning your manliness honey." Sora said grinning like the Cheshire cat.

A new voice was heard. "How can you be here?" Ken said as he stood up again. he immediately saw that Tai wasn't human anymore.

"And how come you're a digimon?" Ken, no the Digimon Emperor, had experimented with human to digimon changes but all his attempts were futile. Right now he was glad that the project never worked but still. It was a fascinating subject.

"I'll tell the entire story now since Davis or Izzy will probably not show up any time soon. I'll tell Cody and Yolei later." Tai said calmly as he thought about his long story.

Tai felt a bit awkward as all eyes were turned to him. Even the digimon had turned away from their games and were paying attention to him.

"Okay let me tell you a story to chill the bone about a things that I saw." **(2)**Tai started.

"Tai cut the dramatics and just tell us." Matt snapped.

"You're no fun." The digimon responded.

"Well it started with my 'death'." Tai started. He noticed how a few people looked back a bit. As if they thought they failed him that day.

"By the way: it wasn't your fault. It was that ShadowWereGarurumon's fault." Tai said and noticed a hint on relief on most people's faces though none appeared on Joe's.

"I was trapped in darkness. An endless void of nothing." Tai continued. "Then one day- I don't know if it was a day or not- a creature appeared by the name of AncientSphinxmon."

"Wait AncientSphinxmon as in 'the ancient of darkness' ?" Biyomon asked. "The same." Tai responded and continued his tale before anyone could ask about the ancients.

"He said something about destiny awaiting me or something like that and send me back to the world of the living. As this." He pointed at himself.

"Then I met with two Vilemon, one of which I deleted." He saw how Ken, TK and Kari flinched a bit. They still refused to delete a digimon if it wasn't necessary. Even though TK had threatened to do that to Tai.

"The other one I purified or something like that. He's in the next room." Everyone, except Matt and Ken knew he was talking about Baromon.

"We started hanging out together and it didn't took long till we found Gennai. We made a stop at the Primary Village, where I met Kari and TK again. they tried to kill me and stuff like that."

Kari and TK blushed at that. The others knew about the attack but didn't know it was Tai yet. They took it rather well since Kari explained that they provoked him.

"Eventually I end up at mount Infinity where Gennai and AncientSphinxmon tell me why and how the made me live again." He pulled the crystal on his right shoulder out and tossed it at Joe.

"They placed my soul in one of those." He pointed at the crystal Joe was holding. "And made me a new body out of digital and dark energy."

"And then I came here and you know the rest of the story." Tai said as he finished up.

It was a bit short but summarized his story.

He waited for the reactions of his friends. "Wow." Matt started. "That was one of the most unbelievable story's I've ever heard."

Matt stood up from next to Sora. "I mean if you weren't here with that goofy smile on your face I would never believe it."

"And how can a soul be trapped inside a gem the size of a fist?" Joe asked.

"How am I supposed to know? Ask Gennai. He's the one who did this to me."

Tai sighed.

"And what happened here after my death?" It still sounded strange to say that.

"Well Joe attacked ShadowWereGarurumon. We all had to hold him back. Else Joe would have ripped him to pieces."

Tai thought about how Joe would rip that creature apart. Actually that would be funny as hell.

"So what happened then?" Tai asked. "Zudomon squished him." Joe said with a triumphant smile on his face.

'That explains the stain on Zudomon's hammer.' Tai thought at the stain he saw on the steel weapon.

"And after that everything just broke down: Joe became a drunk, Sora and I just sort of broke up. Though we're back together now." Sora nodded as she gave him a quick kiss on the lips.

"And Izzy retreated to his room and hardly comes out again. and Mimi became an emotional wreck since she never told you that she loves you." Sora said.

"Hey!" Mimi said annoyed. "I was going to tell him."

"No you weren't." Joe said. "You would just ignore the fact that you love him again."

The others nodded. Mimi blushed.

"Okay so I may love Tai just a little bit. But we both know that this will never work out. We're just to…"

Tai sighed. There was an easier way then this.

He pulled Mimi up to him and kissed her. 'Maybe now she'll shut up.' He thought.

"Wow." Mimi said a bit dazed by the sudden kiss. "I've never kissed a digimon before."

"Whoaa get a room!" Gomamon yelled. Palmon just smacked him on the back of the head.

"Okay maybe this can work." Mimi said eventually.

"Aaaaawwwww." All the other digimon and digidestined awed at the same time.

'_Knock knock.'_

Tai hated that sound. It always broke up moments like these. The sound did also seem to wake up Yolei and Cody.

"Hey Joe could you check on them?" Joe did so.

Tai walked over to as he let go off Mimi. He opened it up to see Davis, Veemon and…

Jun?

"Hey Tai!" Davis and DemiVeemon said at the same time.

"Ehhh." Was all Tai could say. " Do you really believe that it's me?"

"Yes." Both said at the same time. "Hey aren't you supposed to be dead." Jun said not really interested.

"I got better." Tai said annoyed.

"Well Tai." Davis began. "We immediately realized that it was you. I mean you're just like us. Way to stupid and stubborn to walk towards the light."

Tai thought over that for a sec, trying to figure out if that was an insult or a compliment.

"Question Davis. Why's she here?" Tai asked pointing to Jun.

"Simple." Jun started. "Our parents didn't want the town's favourite arsonist to go somewhere alone. So they send me along to baby-sit my favourite baby brother." Jun said as she gave Davis a noogie.

"Quit it!" Davis yelled, trying to get away from his sister. "Plus she just won't leave me alone anyway. She wants to go to the Digital World but I won't take her." Davis said smugly.

"And that's why I'll keep annoying you till you do take me there." Jun responded.

"Okay we'll worry about that later." Tai said as he motioned the siblings to enter.

It took a while for Tai but he convinced Cody and Yolei that he was back AND he told the two newcomers and two fainters his story.(DemiVeemon was more interested in Gatomon then in his tale of woe. The poor blue sucker didn't stand a chance.)

"So." Jun suddenly said. "Where's Izzy?"

"He didn't show up." Kari said. "He has done so for a long time."

Jun turned red. "Damn. He's one annoying boyfriend. If he doesn't show up any time soon I'm gonna dump him so hard his nose will bleed."

"So that's why you came here!" Tai exclaimed. He knew she would never go with Davis anywhere if she didn't have to. "Yes he's my boyfriend and he hasn't said anything to me in two weeks. I swear to God if he weren't so cute I'd…"

Jun decided to let the rest of that sentence to their imagination.

"Did you know that?" Mimi whispered to Sora. "Nope. Did you?" Sora asked Yolei.

"I had my suspicions." She smirked.

"People relax. I'll visit him today." Tai laughed to himself as he thought of how Izzy would react. If he got lucky he'd faint. Then there would have been four fainting people and he'd earn fifteen dollars.

Eventually all the digidestined started to go home. To them live was good again: their fallen leader had risen from the grave, more powerful then ever. Plus they had another ally: Baromon who had awakened after a while, screaming that they would never get him and Phoenix.

And Joe had kept his promise. It might not have been a meteor but it hurt like one anyway so joe was on his way to the AA.

Mimi left him with a kiss and a promise to come see him again tomorrow.

The last ones to leave were Davis, Jun and DemiVeemon. The last thing he heard from Davis was him shouting something about 'secrets' and 'why don't you let your boyfriend open the gate'.

There was just one problem left.

Their parents.

According to Kari they'd been depressed since his dead and seemed to have lost some of their will to live.

So him being back should brighten up their lives At least he hoped so.

"So Tai. You nervous?" Kari asked teasing him a bit. "A little bit." Tai responded.

"Why?" Koromon asked. "The others took it rather well and so will your parents." He continued.

Gatomon spoke with a mothering tone to her voice. "He's right. They're your parents. They'll love no matter what you look like or what you are."

"Or how long you've been dead." Koromon added with a grin.

"So relax Tai. They'll be glad to see you."

"Glad to see who?" A new voice said. Kari stared at the door where her mother stood, keys still in hand. None of them had heard her open the door.

Tai stood up. "Hi mom." He said calmly, hoping that she wouldn't scream or cry or faint. Actually the last one wasn't so bad.

None of that happened. She simply dropped her keys on the floor. Slowly she approached the figure looking like her dead son. That is if you ignored the armor and stripes on his face but other then that they looked the same.

"Tai?" She asked as she stood in front of him. "Yes mom it's me. I'm back."

Tears formed in her eyes as she heard that voice. It had changed a bit but it was Tai's voice. Her son who she thought never to see again.

She quickly wrapped her arms around him and hugged her son, not even flinching from the cold armor he was wearing.

"Taichi Kamiya!" She suddenly became angry. "How dare you die like that?! You're grounded for two months! You just wait till your father gets home!"

"Yeah I missed you to mom." Tai said a bit annoyed but still glad.

* * *

I did not like this chapter. It was evil and incredibly hard to write. I couldn't even think of something for Yolei, Cody or the digimon to say but I'll give them so more attention in the next chapters.  
Auther notes:  
**(1)** At school we do that all the time: we hit each other and then shake hands or something like that after, like nothing happened. You don't wanna know many teachers we angered by doing that :)  
**(2)** Iron Maiden fans will know this intro. Those of you who don't know: it's from 'Dance of Death' (By the way: I don't own Iron Maiden or their Lyrics. I only own a copy of each of their albums. Maiden rules!!) 

Reviews  
Lord Pata: I hope Davis's reaction is any good, as I already said this chapter was a -insert nasty word- to write.

Rubberman2025: I know nothing about the tamers (since they didn't air it here) so I hardly know what a D-power is. I hope you won't mind if I give her a normal D3

Martiny: I hope this was any good.

Hakumei-chan: lol! Hope she didn't hurt herself.

Thanks for reviewing!


	20. The grave you dig might be your own

Don't own so don't sue.

Warning: scenes of grave robbing are in this chapter.

* * *

Spirits of destiny

Chapter 20

Great, just great. His mom now knew he wasn't dead and the first thing she does is ground him. Just like old times.

Dad didn't arrive for another two hours. So by the time he arrived it was dark outside.

To say it simple his dad was shocked.

And nearly fainted.

But he didn't so Tai still didn't earn fifteen dollars. But that was the least of his problems since his dad grounded him for another two months. Like that's gonna happen!

Tai had only two problems left. One: he still needed to get his digivice back. So he'd probably have to rob his own grave. Two: he still had to tell Izzy. That was the easiest part.

"So how are we gonna handle Izzy?" Kari asked her big brother.

"Leave that up to me." Tai said smugly as he moved towards the window. "Later peoples!" He said to them as he jumped out causing Kari, Gatomon and Koromon to cry out. Baromon was already used to Tai's behaviour as a digimon.

Gatomon quickly followed him since she had sworn never to let him out of her sight, even if he was stronger then she was. As she followed him she saw him slide down one of the pipes sticking out the building, the same she always used to get down.

'He must have seen me do so before.' She thought as she slid down. On the way she noticed the markings of battle that Tai and Zudomon left

"Hey Tai wait for me!" Gatomon yelled at the dark warrior. He waited for a sec so she could catch up. "You do know that Kari's gonna be mad at you, do you?" Gatomon said to Tai as she followed him.

"Yup!" Tai said cheerfully. "She's gonna pissed about jumping out the window, saying I could've snapped my neck or something like that."

"Probably." Gatomon sais with a cat-like grin on her face.

"Let's just get to Izzy's place."

A bit later the two digimon arrived at Izzy's house. Not knowing what else to do Tai just…

Rang the doorbell.

Eventually Izzy's mom opened the door, wondering who would bother them at this time. It wasn't late yet but she hadn't been expecting any company. Much less previously dead company.

As she opened the door she saw Tai and Gatomon. The former causing her to back away a bit.

"Hi misses Izumi. Is Izzy home?" Tai said grinning as he knew how stupid he sounded right now.

"He's...he's in his room." She stuttered a bit.

"Gatomon, could you calm her down a bit? I'll go and tell Izzy." Tai said to the cat-like digimon.

Tai walked up the stairs. If his memory served him correctly Izzy's room was up the stairs and second door on the right.

He easily found the room he was looking for. Due to the numerous 'Go away' signs on it.

Tai stared at the door trying to figure out a way to get in without breaking down the door And give Izzy a good scare.

On the other side of the door Izzy was tapping away on his computer, scurrying down the information highway.

Tentomon was watching the teen waste his life behind his screen. No matter how much Tentomon would complain Izzy just refused to go back into 'the real world' as most humans called it. Tentomon thought they were already in the human world so either they were the same or Izzy was trapped in another world.

"Izzy, are you ever gonna leave this room?" Tentomon asked for the fifth time that hour. "The others need you. They're still your friends."

'Friends.' Izzy thought. 'All they ever do is leave or are lost to you.'

Tentomon sighed as he didn't receive any response.

Just as he decided to try for the sixth time he noticed some black smoke come from below the door. He gulped as he spoke to Izzy. "Um Izzy I don't want to alarm you but…" He took in a deep breath. "Fire!"

This caused Izzy to react. He immediately scanned his surroundings to see where the fire was. All he saw was black smoke billowing from under the door.

"Normal smoke doesn't look like that." Izzy said calmly as the smoke approached him.

"And normal smoke doesn't chase you!" Tentomon said as he started panicking.

"Izzy!" A voice boomed from within the smoke. "Why did you turn from your friends when you needed them the most? When they need you the most?!"

Tai wished he could add some lightning effects to the dark cloud of smoke he became, but since he was the warrior of darkness and not thunder that was a problem.

Izzy recognized that voice, how couldn't he? After all that voice called out for him on summer camp. If it weren't for him he would never have gone to the Digital World.

"No, no it can't be. You're dead!" Izzy screamed at the formless cloud.

"Dead doesn't stop me Izzy!" Tai said again. He decided that he had scared Izzy enough and shifted back into his rookie form, which he had assumed before forcing his way into Izzy's room. "Hello!"

"Who on earth are you?" Tentomon asked the rookie sitting in front of him.

"I'm Tai." The pup said as he held out a paw to Tentomon, who did an attempt at shacking it. "Oh that's nice. I'm Tentomon and that's…"

Tentomon dropped down. As in fainted. Which meant fifteen dollars for him.

"You can't… you can't be Tai." Izzy stuttered. "He died months ago." Izzy was getting angry at the dog saying he was Tai.

Tai just sighed and gathered the energy he had released earlier.

"**DemiSphinxmon digivolves to…"**

Izzy had to shield his eyes from the light.

"**Lowemon!"**

As Izzy saw what had taken the place of the pup his mind just… snapped.

"This defies al laws of physics." Was all Izzy could utter. "Haven't we defied those before? A lot?" Tai asked the human in front of him.

"Great to see you again Tai." Izzy said with a strange look on his face, kinda like the one he had when he tried Tai's mom's recipes. Then he just dropped down next to Tentomon.

"Wow five casualties." Tai said as he tried to remember who had said five. Deciding to find that out later he picked up Izzy and laid him down on his own bed. meanwhile Tentomon had recovered and stood up again.

"Wow that was weird." The bug said. "What the hell happened?"

"I said I was Tai and you fainted." Tai said, grinning like an idiot.

"Oh that explains a lot." Tentomon said before he realised what the dark warrior had said.

"WHAT!?!?" Tentomon said as he checked Tai over. He recognized the face he had know for a long time. "Wow Izzy never told me human could be reconfigured."

"They can't be." Tai said to the beetle. "Then explain yourself." Tentomon said grinning, even though he didn't have a mouth. Or teeth. Or anything.

"Long story." Tai said. "I'll tell it when Izzy wakes up."

A soft scratching came from the other side from the door. "Tai! Let me in!" Gatomon yelled through the door.

Tai quickly unlocked it, letting the cat-like creature in.

"How did he take…" Gatomon stopped talking as she saw Izzy knock-out on the bed. "Rather well right?"

"Yup!" Tai said. "Both of them fainted."

"Did not." Tentomon said as he crossed his 'arms.'

"Yes you did." A voice said. Izzy had woken up again.

Izzy pushed himself up and stared at Tai. He couldn't grasp the fact that his friend had returned from the dead. Even though he looked quite different.

"Are you. Are you a digimon?" Izzy asked, although he already knew the answer to his own question.

"Yes, I have been one for some time now…" Tai told his entire story to the human and digimon who watched him in awe as he spoke of things that nature normally didn't allow, neither in this or the digital world. Izzy was glad that Mother Nature made an exception to that.

Eventually Tai and Gatomon were on their way home again.

Tai entered the apartment the way he left it. Through the window. Where Kari was waiting infuriated at him for pulling off that stunt.

"Taichi Kamiya!! How dare you do that?!" Tai backed away a bit from his little sister. It wasn't healthy for anyone to get in the line of fire when she was angry and this time HE was the target.

"You know how stupid that was? You could have snapped your neck!" After that kari calmed down a bit. "We could have lost you again. You do know that, do you?"

"Kari you can't get rid of me that easily." He said with a smile.

"I know that but still… I couldn't handle losing you again. No one would be."

Tai thought of that. Maybe he shouldn't have worried her by doing that. Maybe he should have just taken the stairs like normal persons. But then again, he wasn't normal. Not in this life or in his previous.

"So who wrote down five casualties?" Tai said trying to lighten the mood.

Baromon smiled when he heard that.

An hour or so later.

"I still can't believe that Phoenix won!" Tai sighed for the fifteenth time. "He can't even count to five!"

"All is fair in love and war! And betting!" Kari said smiling, even tough she had lost five dollars.

Before Tai could complain some more he was interrupted by an all to familiar sound.

"_Knock-knock" _

'Now what?' Tai thought as mom answered the door. "Hi misses Kamiya, are Kari and Tai home?" He heard a voice say.

Tai watched how his mom motioned Matt to come in. "Hey Matt what's up?" Tai said already having a guess at what was 'up.'

"We're going grave robbing." Matt said with a grin that could make Myotismon jealous as Tai noticed the two shovels he was holding up.

"You've got to be kidding me." Tai said as he put his head down on the table. "Just how much can happen in one day?"

"You're going to do what?" Tai's mom stepped next to Matt and pulled his ear. "You're not going to rob anyone's grave young man."

"Ouch!Ouch! Let go let go! Please!" Tai's mom let him go while Tai laughed at the rockstar cowering for the mother of one of his friends.

"We'll have to mom." Kari said as she knew what Matt meant. "Tai's digivice is buried along with his 'body.' We'll have to get it back. He might need it later."

"Do you really need to save the world again?" Her mom asked.

"Probably." Tai said with a gloomy grin. "And Koromon can't digivolve without it."

"Fine then go rob your own grave. But I'm not paying for a psychiatrist when you have mental problems after."

"Fine let's get going then." Matt said as he handed Tai a shovel. "Joe's waiting for us at your grave. And don't worry about mental problems. You can always borrow Mimi's shrink."

Tai was about to ask about that when someone cut him off. "Hey Taimon could you pick up Phoenix a bone or two?" Baromon asked. Every pair of eyes was staring at the demon man.

"What?" He said innocently. "It's not like you need it anymore."

"Mom could you teach him some manners while we're gone?" Kari asked as she opened the door and walked out. By the time all three of them were downstairs they heard a scream.

Ignoring that they made their way to the graveyard. It wasn't far from the park. As they made their way there Tai thought of something.

"Hey Kari, why didn't mom and dad cremate my body?"**(1)**

"Mom didn't want that. She wanted a place to visit you when you were 'gone' so we buried you along with your digivice." Kari said.

The rest of the journey there was quiet. Eventually they arrived to see a dark silhouette of a young doctor standing by Tai's grave. It was just a stone, like all the others standing there. Row after row after row. The moonlight made sure they wouldn't need a lamp or anything.

"Greetings mortals. Welcome to the boneyard." Joe said with a very fake grave keeper voice.

"Stop talking and start digging." Matt said as he plunged his shovel into the earth.

"You're really no fun are you?" Joe said grinning.

"If you told me two moths ago that Joe and Matt would be robbing my grave I would never have believed you." Tai said while Kari just nodded.

"Hey Joe how was the AA?" Kari asked the doctor-to-be.

"Actually quite interesting." Joe said as he continued to dig. "There were a lot of people who, just like me, sought refuge in alcohol. It felt good to talk about my situation with people who don't judge for it."

Kari was glad about that. At least now Joe would receive the help he needed.

Tai, Matt and Joe took turns digging the grave. "Why _pant_ are _pant _graves this deep?" Matt said as he stopped digging to rest up.

"Well they're all six feet under to prevent the cadaver from attracting scavengers and…" Joe stopped talking as he saw three pairs of eyes look at him.

"Okay I'll be quiet again."

Tai took over from Matt and dug. Until.

'_Clank'_

The sound of metal hitting wood sounded through the graveyard.

"Got it!" Joe said as he dug away the reaming earth around the coffin. As soon as he was able to Tai lifted the wooden box out of the grave. It was heavy even for him.

Dropping it on the ground next to the freshly dug grave he sighed. "Damn that's heavy."

"So who wants the honour?" Tai asked. No one responded. "Fine then I'll do it."

He tore at the lid of the coffin and… nothing.

"Damn. It always looks so simple in the movies." Tai said grinning in an attempt to hide his own fear for what he would find in the chest. This gave a whole new meaning to the phrase 'digging your own grave.'

Summoning his spear he shoved the tip between the lid and the rest. While the two other men wondered where the pointy stick came from Tai broke open his own coffin.

Once the dust settled he saw what he was afraid of.

Kari had to avert her eyes as she tried not to look at the dusty remains of her brother, even though he stood next to her, alive and kicking.

And screaming.

Tai let out a scream as he saw himself laying in the chest. It was him, yet it wasn't.

Tai did his best not to look at the bony remains but needed to do so to find his digivice.

He saw what he was looking for locked in his own hands. The skeletal fingers were wrapped around his digivice as if never to let go again.

"Okay skinny let's get this over with." Tai said to himself as he pulled on the digivice. He held it firmly to and broke of a few fingers to get it.

"Now that's just plain WRONG!" Joe said.

"Well we've got what we came for." Tai said as he watched the digivice closely. It seemed dead for a few seconds as its screen was dark but it eventually fired back up and began squealing like it did the first time he held it up.

"What's going on here?" A voice said drawn there by the sound. "Oh crap!" Matt yelled. "Now what?"

"Relax man." Tai threw his digivice to Matt. He knew what to do in situations like these. "I'll get us out of here."

"**Low****emon digivolves to…**

The golden light illuminated the graveyard so the trio was visible to the caretaker, even though he couldn't see their faces.

"**JagerLowemon!!!" **

"Hop on!" Tai growled. He could easily hold the three of them.

"But what about your body?" Joe asked.

"We'll worry about that later." Tai motioned them to climb on again. "And don't worry I've done this before!" Tai yelled as he took off. 'It'll hurt like hell and leave you sore!'(2) He thought as the humans climbed on his back.

The trio of humans took a hold of him where thay could and Tai leaped forward out of the sight of the caretaker.

As he ran he heard him swear and say something about 'bloody teenagers.'

"Don't you have seat belts!" Joe screamed as Tai ran as fast as he could.

"No!" Tai laughed as he ran even faster. Before they even realised it they had arrived at the apartment building.

"Want me to give you a ride home?" Tai said, grinning evilly, which wasn't hard to do if you had a lion's head.

"No!!!" Both Joe and Matt screamed. Matt handed Kari Tai's digivice and both teens headed home. "Oh man, dad's gonna complain about those shovels." He heard Matt say to Joe.

"At least we weren't caught. If they found out I was grave robbing I'd get kicked out of med school."

"Bye guys!" Tai yelled at the two complaining teens, who hardly even waved at him. But who could blame them? After such a ride it was a miracle they could still walk straight.

"You okay Kari?" Tai asked his sister who still looked as pale as the moon above them.

"I'm okay, just a bit shocked from what just happened." Kari reassured him. "Shouldn't you dedigivolve? I don't think you'll fit through the door right now."

"Okay." Tai said as he let go of the energy he stored to keep this form. He accidently allowed to much to escape and turned back into DemiSphinxmon.

"Damnit." Tai said. "Good bye opposable thumbs. Still it's no surprise." He said.

"How come?" Kari asked as she opened the door to the stairs.

"I digivolved for like three times today. That takes a lot of energy."

Kari nodded as she remembered how many times the digimons had run out of energy to digivolve.

As they arrived at the door to their home Kari pulled Tai's digivice out of her pocket and placed it on Tai's collar. "At least now you've got it near you."

"Thanks."

Kari opened the door. "Kari! Tai! You returned! You have to see this!" Gatomon bounced up and down, obviously excited by something.

"What's wrong Gatomon?" Kari asked as she picked up the cat-like digimon.

"It's Koromon he digivolved!"

"That's probably why the digivice squealed like that." Tai said as he turned his head to look at the device.

"You've got to see this!"

"See what?" Kari asked.

"Oh my God…" Tai's jaw fell open.

* * *

What has happened to Koromon? What happened to Tai's real body? And why am I asking these stupid questions? I have no idea. 

Auther notes:  
(1) I've read somewhere that most people in Japan get cremated. Can anyone confirm this?  
(2) This is a part of Sonata Arctica's song Fly With the Black Swane (note i don't own SA or their lyrics. I just own a copy of most of their albums)

Reviews:  
GRX3m0m: Hope this was any good.

Vigatus: I have absolutely no idea where it came from but I love it!

Firehedgehog: The same, they were fun to write.

Martiny: Or he just jumps out the window :)

Lord Pata: I got the idea from Rubberman2025 and ALL HAIL TO THE BUCKET HAT!!

graypheonix: Thanks and I'm planning on a flashback sooner or later. Never saw Princess Bride though. _'Runs of to the video store'_

Rubberman2025: I live in Belgium, land of fine beer, delicious waffles and impossible-to-find-anime. The only animes they aired here (that I know of) were Pokemon, Yugioh, Shaman King and the first two seasons of digimon. The only reason I know of Frontier is because of youtube and I can hardly find any episodes of tamers there.

Fruitloop Trooper: Thanks.


	21. Morning after

Don't own so don't sue.

* * *

Spirits of destiny

Chapter 21

Tai was shocked. That happened a lot today. Either his friends, their digimon, his parents. Pretty much everyone.

Now it was his turn.

The Agumon he knew wasn't there anymore. In his place was a shadowy black version of his old friend.

"Agumon?" Tai asked hesitantly.

"Actually it's BlackAgumon now." The digimon said with a grin on his face.

"What happened to you?" Kari asked as she noticed the digimon.

"No idea. I was watching TV and then I suddenly became like this."

Kari picked Tai up and took a look at his digivice. It seemed to have fused with his collar as it was a silver-like colour now.

"When did that happen?" Kari asked as she put Tai down again. "What happened?" Tai asked, trying to look at his collar, spinning around in circles as he tried so. He quickly realised how stupid that must have looked and stopped.

"Your digivice somehow fused with you. It's stuck on your collar."

"At least he can't lose it anymore." Gatomon said with a grin on her feline face. "Remember at the subway?"

"Can we not talk about that?" Tai grumbled. "The main problem now is BlackAgumon. I mean are you still you or…" The pup didn't really know how to handle this. 'Must be how everyone feels about me.'

"Don't worry." BlackAgumon said. "I'm still Agumon. You should know by now that when digimon evolve they change shape but they stay the same being." BlackAgumon reinsured him.

"That's good to know." Tai said with relief clearly heard in his voice. "I was worried there for a second."

"But there's still the question of how this happened." Gatomon said as she ran to the living room with Tai and BlackAgumon on her trail.

"We'll just ask Gennai tomorrow." Tai said as he jumped on the couch. "Hey where's Baromon?"

BlackAgumon grinned sinisterly. "Your mom is teaching him some manners."

No sooner then he said that the door to Tai's room opened. "So now do you understand why you shouldn't ask people for body parts?"

"Yes ma'am." Baromon said, sounding like he had been brainwashed.

"Good. And drop the phoney TV inspired vocabulary. It's annoying." Tai's mom continued.

"Yes."

"Hey mom!" Tai yelled from atop of the couch. "What did you 'teach' him?" The pup grinned as well as his face allowed to.

"Tai is that you?" Mom said as Tai realised that she hadn't seen his rookie form yet.

"Yeah it's me, this is my rookie form. Like BlackAgumon there." Tai lifted a paw and pointed at his companion.

Yuuko walked over to him. "Oh you're so cute!" She picked him up and dangled him in front of her.

"Mom put me down." Tai whined. "You know how long it's been since I could hold you like this?" she continued.

"A long time ago and put me down!" Tai started to struggle.

"It's seems like yesterday that you were running up to me saying that you wanted to go play outside." Yuuko said as she thought of those times. She placed him down on the couch again.

"Shouldn't you go to bed now?" She turned serious again. "You'd think that robbing your own grave would tire you out."

"Yes mom." Tai said annoyed. "At least in the Digital World no one tells me when to go to bed."

"Kari do you mind?" She asked her daughter.

Kari took the hint and picked Tai up. She was sleepy as well. "Let's just go get some rest Tai." She said to her brother. "Tomorrow we'll show your rookie form to dad."

This made Tai grin again. His dad was allergic to dogs and if his fur was just anything like a real dog's, his dad would be covered in red bumps. Thank god he didn't notice Phoenix yet.

Minutes later he and BlackAgumon were lying on his bed. Baromon had gone back to his closet. He didn't want to talk about what Kari and Tai's mom said to him, but at least now he was using normal words again. Except for 'milady' as he refuses to give that up.

Soon Kari was ready for bed as well and she quickly fell asleep. After all today had been very hectic.

_

* * *

Enter Dream World_

_Kari dreamt. She relived her most hated day._

'_Joe stay calm!' Matt yelled at the teen who was trying to escape his grasp. 'You can't take him on!'_

'_Hell I can!' Joe said, struggling to keep his tears from flooding his eyes._

_Gomamon digivolves to Ikkakumon!!_

_Ikkakumon digivolves to Zudomon!!_

_Zudomon brought down his hammer on top of ShadowWereGarurumon._

_There was nothing left. Just a stain on his hammer._

_Joe, Matt and all the others rushed over to Tai's body._

'_Oh god he's not breathing!' one voice said. 'We have to get him away from here!' another said._

_Kari didn't say anything. Her feet felt like they'd been turned to stone. She couldn't move. Her brother, her protector, her friend had just died._

_Tears blurred her vision as Matt and Joe carried Tai's lifeless body to the gate._

_It seemed so unrealistic at the moment._

_The memory then fell apart, as if she had been watching it on a TV and someone threw a brick at the screen._

_From the void arose a shadow. Four gleaming red eyes looked down at her._

'_See what we can do to you?' the creature spoke. 'We can take all those you love away from you Light.'_

_A shadowy hand reached out to her. 'And there's nothing you can do to stop us.'_

_Just as the hand grabbed her a roar sounded and another shadow joined the fight. This one cut off the first shadow's hand with a sparkling silver blade._

'_Maybe she can't stop you but I can!!' It roared and swung his blade again and again till there was nothing left._

_Kari stared at her saviour but before she could get a good look at him she woke up._

_Exit Dream World

* * *

_

Kari sat up. By doing so she nearly awoke Tai who had came to her rescue when she was struggling in her sleep.

She thought about her dream. It was just a memory and Tai was back now but it still hurts. Laying back down on her pillow her hand petted Tai's head.

Kari thought back at her dream. What ever that thing was, it was evil. And familiar, as if it had haunted her before, though she couldn't remember when.

Soon she slipped into a dreamless sleep, though a strange shadow did remain by her side…

Meanwhile in the darkest cave of the Digital World.

"You failed us GearDevimon." One voice said. "You were supposed to bring us the key, yet you returned empty handed." Another said. "

"Don't worry masters." GearDevimon cowered before the crystal, not realising that the captives couldn't hurt him. "I found a way to open the gates."

"Continue!" The first voice screamed.

"We need the power of the Ancients to open it, since they created it." GearDevimon spoke fast. "And this is the best part: Gennai here told me that AncientSphinxmon gave part of his power to an unknown digimon."

"Then find that creature and retrieve the key! Do it fast and we might let you walk away with more then just your life." The second voice said.

"Thank you master." GearDevimon said as he bowed before his masters.

"Gennai!" He turned his attention to the man next to him. The dark energy had reduced him back to the old man he was when the digidestined first entered the Digital World.

"Where is the one blessed with the power of darkness?!" GearDevimon commanded.

"He's… He's… He's… In… The… RRReaal World." The old man stuttered, trying to prevent the words from leaving his mouth.

"The real world." The shadow inside the crystal started laughing maniacally as four eyes glowed a deep red colour.

The sun rose soon and Tai was forced to wake up. So he stayed in bed for a bit longer. It wasn't like he had anything to do right now.

Wrong! As Kari stood up she picked up the pup and placed his drowsy body on the ground, where he nearly fell asleep again. She quickly washed and clothed herself and picked up the phone.

Tai didn't pay any attention to that. Today was Sunday so, just like any other day, he didn't want to do anything except playing soccer.

Kari returned. "Izzy's coming over. He's gonna check up on BlackAgumon and then call Gennai to ask what he knows about this." She hardly believed her own words. Apparantly Tai had been VERY persuasive.

Moments later someone knocked on the door.

"That can't be Izzy, right?" Tai said as he jumped back on the bed trying to wake BlackAgumon up.

Kari walked to the door while Tai continued his desperate attempt to wake his partner up.

She opened the door, which revealed a police officer. "Eh can I help you?" Kari asked.

"Is this the Kamiya residence?" The cop asked. Kari nodded. "I'm afraid I have some bad news for you. Is your mother or father home?" Kari motioned the officer to come in and went to see where mom and dad were.

She found them in the bedroom, putting away some freshly ironed clothes. "Mom there's a cop here."

"Oh no." Yuuko said as he thought of what ever reason the officer could be here. "You didn't get caught, did you?"

"No mom." Kari said, blushing al the while.

"Get caught doing what?" Dad asked confused about whatever they were talking about.

"I'll explain later." Yuuko said. "You just continue with the housework." She grinned.

"Yes ma'am!" Susumu said with a mock butler-like voice.

Kari's mom went to talk with the police officer while Kari went back to her room.

"Hey Tai. It's da man! They're coming for us!" Kari said laughing.

"Very funny." Tai said annoyed. "It's probably about the whole grave robbing thing, isn't it?"

"Yes. Mom's talking with the cop right now." Kari said with a grin. "So keep Baromon inside his closet for a while."

"No problem." The pup said. "I think he's cutting down a whole forest in there."**(1)** Kari heard the distinctive snoring come from within the closet.

About a minute or five later mom knocked on their door, saying that the cop was gone again.

"Okay we admit it." Tai said. "We robbed my own grave. And forgot to bury me again."

"You're lucky that they didn't arrest you young man. Grave robbing is a serious felony which can get you in jail for a long time." Yuuko said.

"Yes mom." Tai and Kari said in unison.

"Hey Tai, what was it like?" Tai's dad asked, ignoring the bumps on his face.

"Creepy, very creepy." Was all the pup said before bursting into laughing.

"You don't know how ridiculous you look right now." Tai said with trouble to breath as he laughed, rolling around on the ground at the same time.

"Hey Yuuko, maybe we should get him fixed, so we can laugh at that." Susumu said with a nasty grin on his face.

This caused Tai to stop laughing. "No! I'll be good! I swear!"

'_knock-knock'_

"Wow saved by the bell." Tai said as Kari went to open it. "Hey Mimi! Hey Izzy!" Kari said to her two friends, still a bit surprised to see the second one.

"Good to see you Kari." Izzy said to the girl while Tentomon and Palmon rushed past the three humans.

"So where's Tai?" Mimi asked. Kari grinned at that. "He's in the living room."

Mimi quickly rushed past her as well, only stopping to greet Kari's parents.

"So Izzy, what's it like to breathe fresh air again?" Kari asked teasingly.

"It's not that fresh you know." Izzy said, refusing to admit that he had missed it.

The two quickly made their way to the living room where Palmon, Gatomon, Tentomon and Tai were discussing BlackAgumon's new form.

"I think he looks cute this way." Palmon said. "It gives him a tall, dark and handsome look."

"You're right. He looks so evil now." Gatomon said.

"Stop it." BlackAgumon whined.

"Okay let's get this started." Izzy interrupted the digimon. He opened up his laptop and put his digivice into the slot Gennai made.

'_Scanning, Scanning'_

'_Scan complete'_

Izzy read what the screen told him about BlackAgumon.

"BlackAgumon, the virus counterpart of the regular Agumon. He appears to of the same genetic structure as Agumon but has different digivolutions."

Izzy continued.

"Champion level is most likely Tyrannomon or DarkTyrannomon and Ultimate is unknown for now." Izzy finished.

"Wow that's cool." Tai said. "But we still don't know how that happened."

"I have a theory." Izzy started. " I believe that since you became a digimon with the power of that Ancient of darkness you transmit different energy then when you were human. This causing Agumon to become BlackAgumon."

"Sound reasonable." Mimi said. "Hey Izzy, what does your laptop say about Tai?"

"Oh please. You'll never find me in that database of yours. I am a one of a kind digimon." Tai said smugly.

"Here it is." Izzy said before starting to read.

"What?" Tai almost yelled.

"It says here: DemiSphinxmon. Rookie level. According to description they're stubborn, foolish and rush into battle without thinking."

"That's like you Tai." Kari said grinning.

"However they are courageous digimon who will defend their friends from any evil threatening them." Izzy finished.

"That's better." Tai said as he jumped onto the couch to get a better look at the laptop. A small picture of himself stared back at him.

"Maybe we should contact Gennai now?" Kari asked.

"Yeah at least then I can kick his ass for writing that down about me." Tai said as he red the description again. "Stubborn my ass."

"Okay. Let's see." Izzy's fingers began moving quickly over the keyboard. "Odd." He muttered to himself.

"What is it?" Mimi asked.

"Gennai's not responding. Normally he always does when I contact him."

"He might be out shopping." Palmon said shrugging a bit.

"Probably." Mimi agreed with her partner. She would have continued discussing where he dissapeared to if it weren't for an explosion.

"What the hell?!" The explosion was followed by a second one. And then came the screams.

"We should see what's going on!" Tai jumped of the couch. "Wait Tai, We should let the proper authorities take care of that." Kari said wisely.

A draconic roar was heard and followed up with an other explosion.

"I think we're the proper authorities now." Tai made his way to the door. "Fine we'll find out what's going on." Kari sighed. She wanted to help whenever she could but didn't want her brother to be exposed to danger again.

"Mimi can you go and get Baromon? He's still in his closet." Mimi did so while Tai, Izzy, Kari and their digimon left for the park, where the explosions seemed to originate from.

"Bye miss Kamiya!" Izzy yelled quickly, in an attempt to be a bit polite.

They quickly made their way down, waited a second for Mimi, Palmon and Baromon. When the three caught up on them they resumed their way to the park.

"It's not even noon yet and we're already under attack." BlackAgumon complained.

"So what do you think is attacking us this time?" Mimi asked the pup running next to her.

"**DemiSphinxmon digivolves to…"**

"**Lowemon!"**

"Gennai told me something about a new evil but that's about it." Tai said.

Once at the park they saw a few humans still running from whatever it was that attacked them. There were a few injured people still there and…

"TK!!" Kari yelled as she saw the blonde boy and his angel digimon fighting a losing battle against three digimon.

"Hey Kari, Tai! Mind lending a hand?"

"No problem!" Tai yelled back. " Mimi can you get the injured out of here?" Mimi nodded as she rushed to the fallen humans scattered across the clearing.

Tai, Kari, Baromon and Izzy ran towards TK. There were three digimon assaulting MagnaAngemon.

Tai recognized one of them. It was a huge three-like creature. Matt told him about it. Cherimon. But there was something wrong with it. Its bark looked as if it was rotting away and his leaves were a poisonous looking purple.

"We came for the bearer of darkness." An other creature said. It looked kinda like Tai as it was a dull grey lion cyborg creature. "Yes master we will obtain the bearer of darkness." The creature said to itself.

"Izzy what are they?" Kari asked. "According to the scanner they don't even exist!" He said, starting to panic as he looked through the database on his laptop.

Tai didn't care about what they were.

"**Lowemon digivolves to…"**

"**JagerLowemon!!"**

Tai just rushed towards the lion-like creature. "Who are you and what do you want!" Tai growled at his near look-a-like.

"I am ShadowLoaderLeomon. I have come for the bearer of darkness." The creature said with a monotone voice.

Tai knew he was talking about him.

An other creature then rammed Tai. It looked like a rust covered ball with horns and a vicious looking chainsaw. Tai recognized it as a Giromon.

Just as it was about to hit Tai with his chainsaw an arrow pierced it, causing it to be thrown away from Tai. A few moments later he was hit with a meteorshower.

The lion looked up to see an angel aiming another arrow at the creature while a demon was dancing the jitterbug to summon up some more meteors. MagnaAngemon and MegaKabuterimon were attacking ShadowCherimon.

"Hang on Tai!!" BlackAgumon yelled as he rushed forward into battle.

"**BlackAgumon Digivolves to****…**

A dark silver light surrounded BlackAgumon while a light shone brightly on Tai's collar.

"**BlackGreymon!!"**

Tai stared in wonder. Izzy had said he would turn into Tyrannomon or something. So he hadn't expected that.

"Mega Flame!!" He roared as he sent an dark blue ball of fire towards ShadowLoaderLeomon, who had began attacking Tai when he was distracted.

The attack hit him but it seemed as if it had no effect whatsoever.

"Ebony blast!" Tai yelled as he fired dark lasers at the lion repeatedly. Still no effect. The digimon's armor was nearly impenetrable.

"BlackGreymon! It's no use!" Tai yelled while he dodged a strike from ShadowLoaderLeomon's mace-like tail.

"We have to think of something!" An other dodged hit. "And fast!"

BlackGreymon halted his attack.

"**BlackGreymon digivolves to…"**

Every human stared at the glowing mass of light. It formed into a shape they hope never to see again.

"Oh god no!"

* * *

-insert evil laugh-  
I love cliff-hangers 

Auther's note  
(1)I don't know if they say this in English. In Belgium they say it when someone's snoring véééry loud and long.

Reviews  
Lord Pata: I was thinking about turning him into Flamon but then I thought nahh let's make him evil!

digi-writer1392, Kit Ninja: thanks for the info!

Firehedgehog: Yup! Cliff-hangers rule!

Martiny: I have no idea. I just added that bit two minutes before I posted it.

Vigatus: Thanks and if you got my review reply then you know you can use those lines. Just mention my name somewhere okay?

GRX3m0m: Thanks!

Fruitloop Trooper: Yeah it just has to be quite disturbing. It's like some kind of Time-Space paradox thingy!


	22. Bad to the bone

Don't own so don't sue.

* * *

Spirits of destiny

Chapter 22

"SkullGreymon!" Tai yelled as he looked at the pile of bones. That thing ha haunted his nightmares for a long time and now it was back.

It made that sound again. That awful sound. As if someone ran over a box of puppies with a tank**.(1)**

He prayed he would never have to hear it again.

ShadowLoaderLeomon didn't stop to gawk at the ultimate. He didn't know why his opponents were so frightened by his appearance and just continued attacking.

"Drilling Storm!"**(2)** The shadowy creature yelled as his steel manes stuck out and began turning around, resembling a circle saw more then a drill.

Tai didn't notice the robotic lion charging at him. He was more frightened of what SkullGreymon would do.

He did turn around when he heard the saw's sound coming closer. But it was to late. The blades were about to penetrate his armor and then his skin.

It was gonna happen all over again.

'_Clunk'_

Tai looked up to see what had happened.

He had never expected to see that. But there it was. SkullGreymon had caught ShadowLoaderLeomon in mid-jump and was crushing him with his bare hands.

"Not…" SkullGreymon said with difficulty. "Again!" He ripped ShadowLoaderLeomon's armor to shreds, leaving the frail, still biological parts alone.

"That's gonna hurt tomorrow!" Tai yelled, nearly triumphantly. The humans couldn't believe what they saw. The thing that once tried to kill them just saved his partner.

"Didn't see that coming." Kari said. "What? That he'd digivolve to SkullGreymon or that he wouldn't try to blast us this time?" TK asked with a huge grin on his face.

"Both." Kari said as she turned her attention back to the battle. She wasn't there when SkullGreymon appeared for the first time but Tai's nightmares told her enough. Even though he refused to talk about them.

Meanwhile Mimi and Lilymon were able to get all the wounded out in time so they didn't have to watch out for any innocents anymore.

Since ShadowLoaderLeomon wasn't about to stand up, Tai and his partner split up to help the others.

"Spinning Mine!!" ShadowGiromon yelled as he threw a bomb towards Baromon and Angewomon. She'd probably survive the attack but Baromon had been cut up severely by ShadowGiromon's chainsaw. If he were to get hit now, he'd be deleted.

The only way he'd survive was if she shielded him. So Angewomon flew in front of him to protect him from the blast.

The blast never came.

Only a muffled sound came from within SkullGreymon's closed hand.

"Guillo chainsaw!" The horned creature yelled as he threw his chainsaw at the new participant of the battle.

The chainsaw hit SkullGreymon just where his hand was connected to his arm, causing the hand to fall off.

"Not so tough anymore, are you?!" ShadowGiromon taunted.

"Ground Zero."**(3)** SkullGreymon hissed as he dropped to his knees and aimed the missile on his back at the chainsaw-wielding nut.

"Oh crap." Was all ShadowGiromon said before he was hit by the fish-like projectile.

The blast knocked him out and knocked down a few trees...

Make that half the park. There was now a huge crater in the center, with a defeated ShadowGiromon in the middle of it.

"Wow." Angewomon said as she saw who her and Baromon's saviour was. Just like Kari she wasn't there but she had heard of what happened the first time he showed his face and had seen the destruction he caused when the Digimon Emperor tried to control him.

"Hey big guy!" Baromon yelled up at the walking corpse. "Need a hand?!" He pointed at the bone hand lying next to him.

"Yes." SkullGreymon picked it up with his still attached hand and place it back on his arm. A few seconds later it was functional again.

Meanwhile Tai was having his own problems. MegaKabuterimon was trapped in ShadowCherrymon's branches, which drained his energy rapidly.

An other set of vines was aiming for Tai. He dodged it swiftly. A bright light revealed that MegaKabuterimon's energy had been completely drained. He turned back to Motimon, who was still trapped between ShadowCherrymon's vines.

The tree-like digimon grew stronger of his energy and took on huge proportions. He was nearly as big as SkullGreymon now.

Tai saw only one way to defeat it. He remembered how that strange Angemon had called itself.

ShadowAngemon.

So if these three were infected by the same thing he should be able to…

A light surrounded him while he dedigivolved to Lowemon.

"Tai!! What are you doing?!" MaganaAngemon yelled at him while he cut through ShadowCherrymon's vines with his blade.

"I have an idea! Distract him for a while!" Tai yelled back as he pulled out the crystal on his shoulder. His digivice was right next to it.

"Okay. You're the dark expert here." MagnaAngemon said as he flew in front of ShadowCherrymon. "Hey moustache-man!" The huge tree turned to him. "Yeah I'm talking to you! Don't you know that moustaches are not cool? Ladies don't like the bristled men anymore!**(4)**" ShadowCherrymon quickly lifted one branch-like limb to his moustache.

Meanwhile Tai slipped past the lethal limbs and snagged an unconscious Motimon from between the vines. Next he ran towards the source of said vines. ShadowCherrymon's body.

There he used the crystal still clenched in his hand to drive out the darkness.

"Creature of the woods, misled by evil. Be purified by pure darkness!"

The sudden yell caused ShadowCherrymon to turn away from MagnaAngemon's list of 'why moustaches aren't cool anymore' and see Tai. But before he could do anything the crystal shone with a silver light and ripped the darkness from his body.

Cherrymon's bark grew back and his leafs turned back to a healthy green. He shrunk back to his normal size.

"Wow, that was weird." He said as he supported himself with his cane.

"Hey Tai how did you do that?" MagnaAngemon asked in wonder.

"Comes with the costume, man." Tai said as he grinned.

"That was amazing!" TK yelled as he rushed to MagnaAngemon and Tai with Kari and Izzy on his track.

"Tai that was awesome but I have a question." Kari said to her brother. "Ask away." Tai said as he handed a still drowsy Motimon to his partner.

"From what I just saw you can turn bad digimon into good digimon. Right?" Tai nodded. "Some of them at least."

"So my question is… Do you need to say that 'be purified' stuff?"

Tai blushed a bit, cursing inwardly that his helmet didn't cover his face anymore. "Actually no but it just sounds cool."

"No actually it makes you sound like a dork." Izzy said while Motimon regained consciousness. "And thrust me: I know what's dorky."

TK, Kari and MagnaAngemon laughed at that. A huge finger tapped on MagnaAngemon's shoulder. He turned around.

"So you don't like moustaches, do you?" Cherrymon asked with a serious voice. He quickly bobbed the angel on the head with his cane.

"Kids these days have no respect for their elders. I mean in my time we respected people's moustaches. But now they're insulting this and controlling that."

"Wait you mean you remember what happened to you?" Tai quickly asked.

"Of course I do you young whippersnapper. Just because I'm old doesn't mean my memory doesn't function any more."

"Then who controlled you?" Kari asked the huge tree.

"It was…" Cherrymon ruffled his leafy moustache. "I don't know. My back was turned at the moment."

SkullGreymon, Baromon and Angewomon joined the discussion, each(except for Baromon) carrying a fallen digimon.

"Hey Tai can you pull that trick on these guys as well?" Angewomon asked as she put an unconscious ShadowGiromon down while Cherrymon went on and on about his good memory.

"Sure." Tai threw his crystal up and caught it again. "Oh and Tai? No more speech, okay?" TK asked him.

Tai grumbled. "Fine." After purifying ShadowGiromon it was ShadowLoaderLeomon's turn. Or at least what was left of him. SkullGreymon laid him down infront of Tai.

After the light cleared LoaderLeomon was still in pieces but conscious.

"Damn I can't feel my legs." He said while he tried to get up. "Sorry." SkullGreymon said.

"No problem, haven't felt them since I digivolved." He grinned. "Half robot." He said to reassure them. "Don't worry I just need to find the nearest factory and I'll be good as new."

"Hey Cherrymon, you here to?" He asked as he saw the huge tree. "Yeah man."

"Me, Giromon and him go way back." LoaderLeomon said as Cherrymon picked him up and placed him on one of his branches.

"Wow, how old are you three then?" The newly dedigivolved Salamon asked.

"Did he do the 'older and wiser then you' thing again?" Giromon asked. They all nodded.

"He's not that old, he digivolved only two weeks ago." LoaderLeomon said while Izzy prepared his laptop to send them back.

"You two are no fun, you know that?" Cherrymon said before walking into the opened gate.

"Well bye. And sorry about the whole chain saw death attempt." Giromon said before jumping in as well.

"That was very weird." Was all Tai said as a bright light surrounded SkullGreymon, turning him back into his in-training level.

With the three rogue digimon gone Izzy turned to Tai and Koromon.

"This may seem odd but why didn't you try to kill us this time?"

"No idea. This time it was just me in there. The first time." Koromon looked down a bit. "It was as if hatred and anger had clouded my mind. But there wasn't any of that this time."

Tai bit his lip as he heard that. He remembered how he had forced Agumon to digivolve that day. The hate and anger he spoke of were actually his.

"Let's just get home now." Kari said. "We're all tired, right?"

A half hour later, at the Kamiya residence. Izzy and Mimi had both gone home after a few worried calls from their parents.

"So TK, why did you decide to take on all three those digimon?" Kari asked, a bit angry for his stupid behaviour.

"Hey I was just passing through the park when a gate opened and those three came through." TK defended himself.

"Okay but still why didn't you call us or anything like that?" Kari continued.

"I thought you would come when you heard those explosions." TK said calmly.

"Okay but you got lucky this time TK." Kari started. "Next time contact us, no matter what. I don't want to lose you." She said as a single tear rolled down her cheek. TK hugged her. "You can't get rid of me that easily."

"Get a room!" A voice yelled from the living room. The source being a tired warrior of darkness.

"I don't understand how you humans can still be so active after such a battle." Baromon said while lying on the ground.

"They didn't fight, remember?" Koromon answered from on top of Tai's stomach, who was lying flat on the couch. Salamon and Tokomon had just fallen asleep on a nearby pillow.

"TK, are you staying for lunch?" Yuuko asked the blonde teenager. "Eh no thanks ma'am." TK said quickly as he remembered how her lunches tasted.

"I should be going home, my mom's probably worried sick." He said as he picked his hat up from the kitchen table.

He walked up to the digimon, picked up Tokomon, said something to the digimon and headed to the door.

"Bye Kari." He said as he quickly kissed her on the lips. Both Kari and TK blushed.

"Later TK." She said as he left.

"Aaaww my little girl's in love." Yuuko nearly laughed as Kari turned even redder.

"Shut up." Kari whined.

Tai placed Koromon down next to him. He stood up, careful not to step on Baromon and walked into the kitchen.

"Is my little baby sister in love?" Tai asked with a huge grin on his face. "Just get off my back okay?" Kari said annoyed by the sudden attention.

"Okay but remember: if he breaks your heart , I break him." Tai said, still having that nasty grin on his face.

"Tai! That's a horrible thing to say!" Yuuko said to her son. "Tai don't you dare…" Kari quickly added.

"Come on people, I'm just kidding! I won't break him, I'll just stab that hat of his." Tai pulled his spear out of thin air. "With my pointy stick!"

"I can live with that." Kari said, still weary of him.

"Taichi! What did I say about weapons in this house?" His mother looked at him angrily. "Eh… don't run around with them?" Tai asked as said weapon disappeared again.

"So what's for lunch?" Kari asked to change the subject.

"Two bean salad." Yuuko said cheerfully once more. "Let me guess: you ran out of beans again." Tai said as he remembered a similar lunch a few years ago.

"I would have made three bean salad, if your father remembered to go to the store yesterday." She said that last part a bit louder so dad could hear it from his computer room.

"Sorry!" He yelled from there.

Some time and a two-bean salad later.

"So do all humans eat stuff like that?" Baromon asked while his mask turned green.

"Oh come on it wasn't that bad." Yuuko said as she crossed her arms.

"Of course not mom." Tai sighed.

"So what are we gonna do now?" Koromon asked. "In my case: I'm gonna watch some TV. Maybe we're on the news."

Tai stood up from table, sat down on the couch and switched the TV on.

"Our top story: digimon attacks." The reporter stated. "At the city park in Odaiba was an other digimon attack. The second in three days. There were a few injured people but deaths were prevented by the fast reaction of our local heroes. The only serious damage was to the park, where an explosion dug a huge crater and destroyed several trees. "

The screen showed footage of the battle, though taken from a considerable distance as only ShadowCherrymon and SkullGreymon were visible. The huge hole was hard to miss.

"In addition to the digimon attacks, the grave of Taichi Kamiya, leader of the team that saved our world years ago was desecrated by, according to an eyewitness, some bloody teenagers and their pet horse."

"I can't believe it." Tai said.

"Yeah you're quite the hero now you're dead." Kari grinned.

"It's not that, I can live with being a hero. But they called me a horse."

Koromon, Salamon and Kari began laughing at Tai's annoyed face.

"What's a horse?" Baromon asked.

"And now in other news…" The reporter would have continued if Tai didn't change the channel.

"Man there's nothing on TV." Tai moaned as he threw down the remote.

"Of course there's nothing on, it's Sunday." Kari told him.

"So now what? Tai said as he allowed gravity to drag him onto the couch.

"We could go to the Digital World?" Kari suggested.

"Nah, still to tired." Tai responded.

"People I still don't know what a horse is!" Baromon spoke up. Everyone ignored him. "Fine then, I'm gonna hang out with Phoenix." He said before heading into the bedroom.

A few minutes later Baromon came, holding a bal of fluff. "Hey Taimon, what kind of digimon is this?"

"Hey that's Miko!" Kari exclaimed. "When did you get back home girl?" She asked as she took the cat from Baromon.

"I just found her in your room." Baromon said as he pointed there.

"That's our cat." Tai said to the demon man. "She tends to disappear a lot."

"But she always comes back." Kari continued as she put the cat down.

About an hour or so later

"So now what?" Tai asked for the fifth time. He hated Sundays. Nothing to do, nothing on the TV.

"Still nothing Tai and stop asking." Kari said annoyed.

"This sucks." Tai said as he stood up. "I'm going to the digital world. Maybe we can find something about the idiot controlling those digimon. Anyone wanna come?"

"An hour ago you were to 'tired' to go." Salamon said as she turned over on her pillow again.

"That was an hour ago. Stop living in the past." Tai responded as he headed to the bed room.

"Wait up." Kari said as she, Salamon and Koromon followed.

* * *

This chapter was fun. Is my SkullGreymon any good? I always pictured him as a rather sadistic creature yet one that would do anything to save his family. 

I like three bean salad! And I decided to get the cat into the story.

Auther notes  
(1) Or something else nasty. You decide.  
(2) Actually the attack is called boring storm. But I changed it a bit. It just doesn't seem very evil when someone screams "Boring Storm" at you.  
(3) I took the alternative name for his attack  
(4) According to a Belgian newpaper that's true. But I really don't understand why _'strokes own moustache' (Which is actually just a bit of fluff)_

Reviews  
Lord Pata: yeah I know it was a bit obvious. But I've been planning to get him into the story since the beginning (just had no idea how). Hope it explained a bit why TK and Patamon were fighting those three.

Cardinel: that's what I liked about him. As you said, one appearance, that was enough for the digidestined to fear him.

Depthmon: thanks for reading and glad you liked it.

Martiny: happy? He's in control, more or less, but he'll always have a bit sadistic personality :)

Firedhedgehog: 'continues evil laugh'

Vigatus: that's one of the reasons I'm using SkullGreymon. I was watching the last episode of digimon again and heard Gennai say something about SkullGreymon's destiny. Then I thought to myself: let's give him that destiny now!

Rubberman2025: my favorite episodes actually and thanks!


	23. Going digital

Don't own so don't sue.

* * *

Spirits of destiny

Chapter 23

Tai turned the computer on. As soon as it was ready to go he opened the gate-program.

"Hey Baromon! You wanna come?" Tai yelled at the demon man, who was probably sitting in the couch again.

"No!" Was all he said as Tai heard him change the channel on the TV again.

"If we're not careful he might digivolve into Couch-Potatomon." Kari grinned.

"That would be cool. He'd just crush his enemies!" Tai exclaimed, imagining a rather obese digimon squishing the Dark Masters.

"Can we just go now?" Koromon asked. "Else I'm gonna watch TV with Baromon."

"Stay calm little man." Tai said as he pulled out his trusty old crystal. "Tai what are you doing?" Kari asked a bit confused.

"Watch." Tai simply said as he aimed it at the screen. A flash of light and Tai and Koromon were gone.

"Cool." Kari said as she picked up Salamon. "Mom! We're going to the Digital World!" Kari yelled, alerting her mom of where they were.

"That's nice dear." She responded.

Kari aimed her digivice at the screen, an other flash of light and the room was empty.

As always she ended up on the ground, while Salamon landed on her four feet.

Tai was laughing at that. "You know, one of the best things about being a digimon is that you'll land on your feet when you land." He smirked as he held out a steel-covered hand to help Kari up.

"Very funny Tai." She said as she took his hand. "So now what?" Kari asked as she cleaned of the dirt on her clothes. She looked around to see trees.

"I think we're on File Island, so Gennai's probably around here somewhere." Tai said as he put Koromon down. "So we could look for him."

"Or we could do something fun." Koromon said as he hoped around. "Like ask the others to come and then scare them to death."

Tai understood what he was talking about. "That's mean Koromon, very mean. So let's get to it!" He yelled.

"Tai, What the hell are you talking about?" Kari asked, not liking that sparkle in Tai's eyes. His eyes were a bit different now but that sparkle means he's up to something.

"Oh nothing. Koromon's just gonna become SkullGreymon again and scare the crap out of everyone." Tai tried his best not to laugh.

"Tai! That's just plain awful!" Kari yelled. "Hey it's his idea." Tai defended himself while Koromon bounced enthusiastically. "And it's better they find out this way then in the middle of a fight, right?"

Kari just glared at him. In a way he was right. It would be rather awkward when in the middle of a battle something like SkullGreymon appeared on their side.

"You see? I'm right, as usual." Tai said as he saw Kari's eyes turn away from him.

"Why don't you just tell them about the change?" Salamon asked.

"You're no fun." Tai and Koromon said at the same time.

They wandered around for a while, no real destination in mind.

"Hey, I've got an idea." Tai said as he thought of someone. "We could go to Elecmon. Haven't seen him in a long time."

"Good idea." Kari said as she thought of how to get there. "But how are we gonna get there? Primary Village is on the other side of the island."

"What you've seem to have forgotten is that I'm your brother. And I can become a huge lion, suitable for mass transportation."

Kari quickly turned to her brother. "No don't! we'll just walk."

"But that'll take ages." Tai grinned.

"The exercise will be good for us." Kari sought for an excuse.

"Oh come on Kari. It can't be that bad." Salamon said.

"You have no idea." Kari said to her rookie partner.

A flash of light appeared.

"Are we going or not?" Tai now as JagerLowemon asked.

"Come on, I'll be careful." Tai continued.

"I'm gonna regret this, aren't I?" Kari said as she grabbed hold of her and Tai's partner.

"Yup."

"It won't be that baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaad!!" Salamon screamed as Tai took off. Quickly moving past trees and rocks, passing over the occasional river.

The Primary Village wasn't as far as they thought. Soon they saw the multi-coloured blocks that formed said village.

Elecmon, as always, was taking care of his babies. He had never thought that he'd hear a scream louder then those of the baby digimon.

"Aaaaaagh!!"

Elecmon turned around to see JagerLowemon charging at him.

Tai stopped five cm in front of him, leaving skid marks on the soft ground.

"Hey Elecmon." Tai grinned as Kari, Salamon and Koromon jumped of his back.

"Damn that was fun!" Koromon bounced up and down, adrenaline still pumping through his small body.

"I don't feel so good." Salamon turned green. Kari quickly picked her up. "You don't look so good." Kari stated the obvious.

"Oh please. Don't say that that was so bad." Tai said as he glowed and turned back to Lowemon.

"Hey Tai. Long time no see." Elecmon said to the now champion digimon. "What's up with the new look?" The rookie asked as he pointed at Tai's revealed face.

"Oh this?" Tai said as he brushed his hair back a bit. "Zudomon cracked my helmet and now it's gone."

"So they all heard the good news?" Elecmon asked as he scratched his head. "How did they take it?"

"Five people fainted, Joe and Zudomon tried to crush me and Matt punched me."

"Cool." Elecmon said simply. "And Kari? What's it like to have your brother back?"

"Great!" Kari exclaimed. "I still can't really believe it but here he is." She continued as she put Salamon back down.

"And I still have a bone to pick with you." She said as she pointed at the red rookie. "Why didn't you tell us about Tai?"

Before Elecmon could say something, Tai answered that question. "Because I asked him to. I didn't want to tell you then so I could tell you."

Kari nodded. She understood why he wanted to be the one to tell them. And besides: if Elecmon had told her, she wouldn't have believed him.

"So what brings you here?" Elecmon changed the subject.

"No reason. There wasn't anything else to do so we came here. And we have to find Gennai."

"Gennai?" Elecmon asked. "Haven't seen him in days."

"Even Izzy can't find him. It's like he vanished." Kari added.

"He does that all the time." Elecmon expained. "But he always comes back."

"So now what?" Koromon asked, tired of being quiet. "I just got out of this place so I don't want to hang around here."

"We could go look for Gennai." Tai suggested again. "Or we just hang around the island till dinnertime."

Kari checked her watch. Dinner wasn't for another three hours, so they had time enough.

"Where do we start looking? I mean, he might not even be on this island. He could be on Server." Salamon stated.

"We'll just ask AncientSphinxmon. He might know something." Tai said reluctantly. That digimon was sure to know where Gennai was but he didn't really feel like going there again.

"Good idea." Kari said. "Plus I want to thank him for saving your sorry ass."

"Hey!" Tai started. "He didn't save me. He just stopped me from dying and gave me this spiffy new form."

"Tai, most people would call that saving you." Elecmon said to the champion level towering over him.

"Yeah what ever." Tai sulked a bit. "Let's get the hell out of here again."

"Hey you were the one that wanted to come here in the first place." Kari replied.

"I knew that." Tai quickly said. "Hey Elecmon, let me know when if and when you see Gennai."

"Sure. Oh and could you do me a favour? Go to Ogremon and tell him you're alive. He refuses to pay me my five digi-dollars."

"I'll see what I can do." Tai said before heading to the exit of the village with Kari and the digimon after him.

"What was that about?" Kari asked once outside of the gates.

"What?"

"That about the five digi-dollars." Kari looked at Tai with a curious look.

"Oh that. Apparently a few digimon, that we all know and love, have betted on our love lives."

"Oh that's nic-What!!" Kari turned red. "You really mean that?" Tai nodded. "Remind me to smack Elecmon next time I see him. Who else is in on this bet?"

Tai thought for a second. "Let's see. There's Elecmon, Ogremon, Leomon, Piximon and Whamon."

"Who betted on who?" Koromon asked as he attempted to keep up with the two humans. Tai quickly picked him up.

"Don't really know. The only thing I know is that Elecmon betted on me and Mimi. Ogremon said that would never happen and apparently Piximon betted on me and…" Tai cleared his throat.

"Me and Matt."

Kari, Koromon and Salamon began to laugh.

"It's not funny." Tai pouted.

"You know? The two of you would make a nice couple." Kari said when she was done laughing, only to start again after she pictured Tai and Matt's wedding.

"Yes hilarious. Can we all stop laughing now?" Tai tried again.

"Yeah, we'll stop." Koromon managed to say. "But it's still funny as hell!" Salamon added, causing the others to start laughing again.

"Screw this." Tai said. "Let's just get going again."

"**Lowemon digivolves to…"**

The familiar light surrounded him once more.

"**JagerLowemon!!"**

"Now it's my turn to laugh." Tai grinned, baring his sharp teeth. All spectators fell silent, except for Koromon. He was the only one excited about this.

Ten minutes later.

"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhh!!"

Salamon screamed again. Tai had decided to speed up just a little bit more. It was funny to hear Gatomon's rookie form scream like that.

Gatomon was a brave, quiet cat. Salamon was a screaming puppy. Big difference.

Soon they arrived at the entrance to AncientSphinxmon's cave. Right next to Tai's memorial.

As soon as Tai stood still Salamon jumped off.

"Never again! Never again!" She yelled before kissing the ground under her feet.

"Again! Again!" Koromon was reacting quite different.

Kari said nothing. She was a bit nauseous from the bumpy ride but she'd live.

"So where's AncientSphinxmon anyway?" Salamon asked once she was calmed down.

"Down there." Tai pointed a paw towards the cave. "Still sure you want to meet him?"

Kari nodded. "Okay, just wanted to make sure. I mean: you are the digidestined of light and he is the ancient of all that is darkness and stuff like that."

"Relax Tai I'll be fine." Kari playfully pushed her brother, even though he was made of steel and weighed almost half a ton.

"Okay but I warn you. Don't call him evil." Tai quickly added. He decide not to push back, as he would probably crush his little sister.

"Why's that?" Koromon asked. "He doesn't like it and he'll probably start his speech about 'how he finds it offensive' and how evil doesn't equal dark." Tai said.

"He's quite sensitive about the subject actually." He added.

"Okay we won't mention the word 'evil' down there." Salamon said. Her colour had gone from green to her normal beige colour.

"**Salamon digivolves to…"**

"**Koromon digivolves to…"**

Both digimon were surrounded by a bright light. One was a golden colour while the other was of a silver kind.

"**Gatomon!!"**

"**BlackAgumon!!"**

"Woohoo! Limbs!" BlackAgumon yelled.

"At least now I get to see something down there." Gatomon said as she pointed at her eyes before heading into the cave.

"Let's go." Tai said as he followed Gatomon.

After dwelling through the cave for what felt like hours(again) they arrived in a huge stone hall. Once again Tai was staring at the one creature he didn't want to see anymore. This morning that creature was still SkullGreymon but the huge lion-like creature had taken his place around noon.

"Gennai was right. You would return when you're ready." AncientSphinxmon said to the warrior of darkness. "And you brought others with you." He was getting excited about that. He hadn't had so many visitors in fifty thousand years.

"Yeah whatever. I'm not interested in your destiny crap." Tai responded, ignoring the fact that AncientSphinxmon was towering over him.

"Then why are you here my son?" Tai growled a bit. Kari noticed this but didn't say anything.

"I need to find Gennai. We need some answers."

"Maybe I can be of some assistance. What do you need to know?"

Tai hated that about AncientSphinxmon. He acted so casual around him, as if nothing ever happened.

"We need to know who has been infecting the digimon. They become rather vicious and attack us." Kari said, a little intimidated by AncientSphinxmon's size. "And they come to the real world." She quickly added.

"What is your name child?" The Ancient asked. "Kari sir."

"Kari. Oh yes. The digidestined of light." AncientSphinxmon said as he thought about something. "Haven't seen AncientGarurumon in years. Oh and about your question. I have absolutely no idea about who is 'infecting' other digimon."

"What!?" BlackAgumon decided to add his thoughts. "What do you mean you don't know? I mean you are the ancient of darkness, right?"

"Oh dear." Tai said as he stepped away from BlackAgumon.

"So what you're saying is that: since I am the Ancient of Darkness I must know about every evil there is. I don't. Just because you're a dark digimon doesn't mean that you fight for evil, nor does it mean that you fight for good. We all make our own choices."

AncientSphinxmon pointed a claw at BlackAgumon.

"Let's take you for an example. You are a Virus digimon. Does that mean that you're evil? Does that mean that you won't protect that which you see as good?"

BlackAgumon thought about his words.

He was right. He had been a virus type for a day but he didn't feel different. He still wanted to protect his friends. Their side was still the good side, as they didn't want to destroy or control anyone.

"I'm right, aren't I?" AncientSphinxmon asked as he saw the rookie think over his words.

BlackAgumon just nodded.

"As always."

Tai just watched the scene. In the beginning he had thought so as well. That dark was evil and light was good. But after he had been aided by so many 'dark and evil' digimon he realised the truth. The world wasn't in black and white.

"Okay now what? We have no idea where Gennai is and we still don't know who is turning digimon." Gatomon spoke for the first time since they arrived here.

"No idea." AncientSphinxmon responded. "But next time I see Gennai I'll tell him to contact you."

Tai turned to his sister.

"Let's get the hell out of here." Tai said. "Else mom will be mad about being late."

"Okay." Kari said. "Bye AncientSphinxmon!" She waved at the ancient. "Oh I nearly forgot." She ran up to him.

"I wanted to thank you about saving my brother." Kari bowed a bit as she said that.

"No problem."

Kari walked over to her brother and digimon. She quickly checked her watch.

"Oh crap!" She yelled. "Tai we only have ten minutes left!"

"Hop on!" Tai yelled while BlackAgumon did so with a smile on his face. The other two didn't seem so enthusiastic.

"Hang on tight and keep your arms and legs inside the vehicle at all times!"

Kari and Gatomon swallowed as they tried to hold on to Tai's armor.

"Overdrive!"

A blur of four legs and a whole lot of screams ran through the cave towards the entrance.

"He reminds me of myself when I was young." AncientSphinxmon said to himself.

Tai rushed through the cave, through the forest and towards the gate. At the speed he was going at he would probably crash into the TV.

He dedigivolved when he saw the gate, causing an abrupt stop to his sprint. Kari and the digimon were still on his back and were catapulted over him.

"Damn that was fun!" BlackAgumon yelled as he climbed out of the bush he landed in.

"Don't ever do that again!" Kari yelled from atop of a tree.

She jumped out of it and landed on her feet. "Hey where's Gatomon?" Kari asked.

"Don't know." Tai said as he turned around to look for his other little sister.

The moment Tai turned his back to Kari and BlackAgumon they started laughing.

"What?" Tai asked, trying to look on his back. While he couldn't see anything, the other two could.

What they saw was a shocked Gatomon, with her claws deep into Tai's armor, so he could hang on tight.

Her eyes were wide open, her jaws were clenched together and she hardly responded to anything.

"Gatomon? Are you okay?" Kari asked before trying to get Gatomon to retract her claws out of Tai's back.

Eventually Gatomon realised they weren't moving anymore and pulled her claws out.

"That was the last time I'm ever travelling with you!!" Gatomon pointed a claw at Tai, who was grinning like an idiot.

"Let's go now. I think we're late because of this." Kari said as she checked her watch. They were ten minutes late.

A minute later three digimon landed in Tai and Kari's room. They all landed on their feet. And a second or two later a human landed on top of the two rookies and one champion.

"Get of. Please." Tai muttered.

"Damn I hate this." Tai lifted a paw. "I thought this would only happen the first time I went through."

"It's not that bad. At least you broke my fall this time." Tai glared at his little sister.

"Not cool."

"Let's get some dinner now." BlackAgumon said enthusiastically.

The three digimon ran to the kitchen while Kari walked after them.

"Wow you're back early." Yuuko said. "I wasn't expecting you for a half an hour."

"What?" Kari checked her watch. She then looked at the clock in the kitchen. Her watch was running almost forty minutes ahead.

"Stupid watch." Kari muttered.

"Wait. So you're telling me we rode the death ride for nothing?" Gatomon snapped and ran off screaming.

"Did I miss something?" Baromon asked from his regular seat on the couch as Gatomon ran past him a few times before calming down again.

"Not much." Tai responded with a puppy-dog grin on his face.

"How long is he gonna stay here anyway?" Tai's dad asked. "He's hogging the remote contol AND he took my seat. And that dog of his scares Miko."

"And he saved my life a few times." Tai said to his father.

"Okay he can stay a bit longer but he can't stay here forever."

Tai hadn't really thought about that. If he was still Patamon it would be easier to keep him here. But now, since he permanently became Baromon, that was a lot harder.

"He's staying till we defeated whatever great evil there is out there." Tai said. "He's our back-up."

"And how long will that take?" Dad asked.

Tai shrugged. Which was very weird to see coming from a dog-like creature.

Susumo sighed.

Kari picked Tai up. "Hey put me down!" He whined. Kari smiled at the fact that her big brother acted like a little kid when he was in his rookie form.

She put him down in the living room.

"I have a question. And I don't want to ask it when mom or dad are around." Kari said serious.

Tai pointed at Baromon. "What about him?"

Kari waved her hand in front of Baromon. He didn't respond. "See? He's brain dead from all that TV he's been watching."

"Very funny Kari." Baromon said, not even turning to face the girl.

Kari decided to ignore him anyway. "The thing is: why did AncientSphinxmon call you 'son' I mean, do digimon even know what it means?"

"Most do. But he called me so because he thinks that he's my father." Kari eyed him with a confused look as the pup continued. "You know that he gave me part of his energy, right?" Kari nodded.

"Apparently now he thinks that makes me his son." Tai said calmly.

Kari thought about that for a second but didn't say anything.

"Dinner's almost ready." Yuuko interrupted. "Finally." Tai jumped of the couch. "And no, I am not going to eat out of a bowl."

Meanwhile in a place where nothing good ever happens.

"You failed us yet again GearDevimon." One voice spoke. "You told us you'd send out your finest slaves but they were just a bunch of incompetent fools, like yourself." The other told him.

GearDevimon growled. Normally he would have left this creature to rot inside his crystal prison but then he'd never rule over File Island again. He needed their help to get rid of those digidestined punks. He wanted to rule, his master wanted to escapet. Seemed like a perfect match.

"We give you one more chance." The first voice said. "Ruin it and you'll live to regret it. We may be trapped in here but we're still powerful enough to destroy you."

GearDevimon turned around and rushed out of the cave with a nearly decaying Gennai after him.

"It's about time I take matters into my own hands."

GearDevimon laughed diabolically while Gennai still made desperate attempts to regain control.

* * *

I didn't like this chapter. It felt like filler again. 

Reviews  
Fruitloop Trooper: Tentomon probably would have been better for that bit but I like MagnaAngemon better so I chose him. So he can act out of character for once. And Baromon is staying with the Kamiyas for now. And I hope I explained that I explained why he stays in champion form. And the great evil will probably show its face in a chapter or five, maybe more, later

Lord Pata: Glad you liked it. And the scolding will happen in an other chapter. And glad you liked my SkullGreymon.

Firehedgehog: _'Laughs till he runs out of breath'_ he might get it back later _'hint-hint'_

GRXm0m: Thanks

Rubberman2025: Sorry but I already have plans for his mega-level. And no one will find out who it is!!

Depthmon: I just had this weird vision of Tai stabbing that hat, so I wrote it down.

digi-writer1392: Thanks

Vigatus: They come from within the darkest, most evilest depths of my brain.

Angelfish369: Glad you liked it and I'm glad you think it's like the show.

See you later!


	24. Not Again

Don't own so don't sue.

* * *

Spirits of destiny

Chapter 24

Night came again. Kari had just send everyone who didn't know about SkullGreymon a text message, explaining them what they had seen on the news. At least they found out this way and not the way Tai and Koromon suggested: calling everyone to the Digital World and then have SkullGreymon chase after them.

She had to admit it was a funny thought but for most others it would be a nightmare that returned.

Kari thought about what had happened so far. Tai was back in their lives but only to save the world again. Would Gennai and AncientsSphinxmon have resurrected Tai if he didn't have to fight this new evil?

She decided to stop thinking about that.

Meanwhile Tai was still awake. He was having similar thoughts. What would have happened if nothing evil had appeared. Would he be in heaven or in hell? Did those places even exist?

Tai rolled over to his other side. He suddenly had a burst of inspiration. Somethinh had been bothering him for a while and now he knew what.

"Hey Kari." The pup suddenly said. "You still awake?"

"No." Kari responded.

"Good. I've been thinking." Tai continued. "You know, about those possessed digimon."

"Yeah? What about them?" Kari asked the sole wake occupant of the bed under hers.

"The look in their eyes. It reminded me of something." Tai thought about his first trip to File Island. "You weren't there but I told you about Devimon and his Black Gears, right?"

"You mentioned them." Kari began to realise where this was going. "You think he's back?"

"No it's not that. The black Gears would have left marks on the digimon they control. I just thought about their effects. We just have another Devimon on our hands." Tai sighed.

"Could the two of you just shut up?" Tai heard from within the closet. "Some mon are trying to sleep here."

"Sorry Baromon!" Tai responded.

Some grumbling came out of the closet as Tai and Kari stopped talking.

"We'll discuss it some more tomorrow, okay?" Tai quickly said.

"Okay." Kari responded before grabbing her blanket and pulling it a bit closer.

It didn't take long before the siblings were asleep.

In a cave, linking this world to an other.

"Gennai! Open the gate! I feel like going to the Human World." GearDevimon snarled at the digital human.

Gennai did as he was told. Shaking hands touched a few symbols on the wall, causing them to shine with a bright light.

Slowly the gates he 'borrowed' from Myotismon opened up.

"Time to visit this so-called 'warrior' of darkness." GearDevimon smirked as he walked through with Gennai walking behind him. A militia of possessed digimon followed him.

Back in the human world.

Day came but as always Tai refused to get out of bed.

"Damn I hate Mondays." Tai sighed before yawning and falling asleep again.

"You're not the only one." Kari sighed as she got out of bed. She was already brushing her teeth when she realised that school was still closed down for repairs. Kari thought about going back to bed but decided not to.

Instead she decided to annoy her big brother a bit. After all that's what little sisters are for.

"Tai. Tai." Kari whispered as she gently pushed her brother. "Five more hours…" Tai grumbled.

'That's a new one…' Kari thought.

Deciding that her brother had slept enough she picked him up. She carried a still sleepy Tai to the kitchen. The moment they arrived there Tai just turned to smoke and floated back to his bed.

"Damn digimon powers." Kari said to herself. She decided to let Tai sleep for a bit longer. He would get up anyway once he and the other digimon smelled breakfast.

She was right. The moment that the first omelette was ready Tai, BlackAgumon,Gatomon and Baromon came rushing in.

Having to cook for four digimon and herself wasn't that bad. Most digimon are happy with whatever tasted, smelled or looked like food. She had to hold back a laugh as she remembered how Agumon had eaten a bunch of wax apples, claiming that they tasted just like the real thing.

Soon everyone had eaten their fill. And now came the menial task of thinking of what to do that day.

"So what do you wanna do today?" Tai asked no one in particular. "Don't know." Kari said back. "Baromon, you know something?"

"TV." He said in a zombie-like way as he changed the channel again.

"I don't think we're not going to get any other response out of him." Gatomon said.

"Hey at least he's not trying to take over the world anymore." Tai said as he jumped onto the couch.

"What?" Kari asked with a confused look on her face.

"Yeah. Before he became Baromon he wanted to take over our world. He even gathered an army of strays. He thought that they were humans." Tai smirked.

"That explains Phoenix." Kari said.

"Pretty much. But don't forget this: TV stopped a potential threat to the human world. So we should thank it." Tai laughed at his own joke while Baromon still didn't respond.

"Hey I have an idea!" Kari exclaimed after a few moments of silence. "We can go shopping!"

"Great idea. Do they have a tall, dark and gruesome department in the mall? How about an medieval arms shop?" Tai rolled his eyes.

"Come on it'll be fun." Kari tried to convince her brother. "Kari I might be a little bit to suspicious out there. Most people know my face and it doesn't help that I wear a black steel armor with lions carved into it." Tai countered.

"Who says you're going as Lowemon?" Kari had an evil smile on her face. Tai didn't like that smile, it always meant trouble and usually for him.

Kari stood up and ran to a closet. She searched through the masses of junk and found what she was looking for.

Triumphantly she held up what Tai feared the most.

"Oh hell no. You're not gonna put that thing on me!"

Five minutes later

"I can't believe you put that thing on me." Tai growled as he bit on the leash.

"Stop that. And you should be glad that mom kept this. At least now you're able to come to the mall."

"Yeah you look like a real dog now." BlackAgumon said from under his raincoat. He still wore it out of habit. Even though most people knew about and accepted digimon. Gatomon wasn't with them. She prefered not to travel by street so she was following them through use of the other buildings. Their roofs formed a good way to the mall.

"That's what I was trying to avoid. And serious, why do I have to wear this thing" Tai complained to his sister.

"So you won't draw any attention and stop complaining." Kari said as she heard him do so. "No serious, stop complaining. Dogs can't talk."

Tai growled at his sister but decided to shut up anyway.

Soon they arrived at the mall, where Yolei, Sora, Mimi and their digimon were sitting at a table right outside of a coffeeshop.

"Oh look at the cute puppy!" Yolei screamed, making people around them look at her. She quickly picked Tai up. "I didn't know you had a puppy." She said as she scratched behind the struggling puppy's ears.

Meanwhile Sora, Kari and Mimi were trying their best not to laugh. Gatomon and BlackAgumon were simply rolling on the floor.

"What's so funny?" Yolei asked. "And were is Tai? I mean: Agumon is here so where is he?"

"Yolei, put me down!" Tai yelled at the computer geek.

"Yikes!" Yolei almost dropped Tai. "Tai, is that you?"

"Yes and put me down!"

Yolei quickly did so and started to blush.

"Sorry about that Tai." Yolei said once Tai recovered from her attentions.

"Don't worry to much about it. Nearly everyone does that to him." Kari smirked.

Mimi quickly picked Tai up and placed him on her lap. "Who wouldn't? He's so cute!" she said as she rubbed Tai's ears.

"Yeah we all know how cute I am so put me down." Tai jumped of his girlfriend's lap and would have escaped them if it weren't for that leash.

"So Tai what do you think of the wonderful life of a rookie digimon?" Palmon asked him.

"It sucks. Everything is out of my reach, I don't have any opposable thumbs and everyone thinks I'm cute." Tai said to the flower-like creature.

"You'll get used to that." Biyomon smiled, as much as her beak allowed.

"It's all part of being a digimon." Hawkmon spoke up as well.

"Hey Tai, I need to ask you something." Sora suddenly said.

"What do you need to know?" Tai responded.

"Did Agumon really turn into SkullGreymon again?" Sora's face turned red as she asked that. Mimi had seen the creature but she needed to hear it from Tai.

"Actually it's BlackAgumon now." The rookie corrected her.

"And yeah, he turned into SkullGreymon again but this time he's on our side."

Sora seemed relieved by that but still she feared that creature.

"Now what?" Tai asked his sister.

"Shopping!" Mimi answered in her place. "I found this incredibly adorable jacket for you Tai."

"Mimi there's no way that I'm gonna wear a-"

He got cut off by an explosion.

"Not again." Tai sighed.

"Can't this new evil give us a day off?" Sora sighed as well.

"I hate Mondays." Tai sighed again. Another explosion was heard but not from outside the mall. It came from way farther away.

They all quickly rushed outside to see a rather large group of Shadow Digimon wreaking havoc amongst the parked cars.

"Yolei!" Tai turned back into the leader he once was. "Can you contact the others to come and help?"

Yolei just nodded.

He turned to Sora and Kari. "Can you guys go and find out where the other explosions came from?"

"But Tai, you can't take all of them on by yourself." Kari responded as she saw the vast mass of digimons.

"I'm not by myself." Tai pointed at BlackAgumon, who had already thrown away his coat.

"Okay we'll go but don't you dare to die. If you do I will kill you." Gatomon threatened her big brother, even though he was a level lower then her now.

Minutes later Birdramon and Angewomon flew out of the mall and towards the river, where the explosion came from.

"And what about us?" Mimi asked.

"I need some support from the love of my life." Tai grinned.

"Let's just hurry up Casanova." Mimi said, though she blushed as Tai called her that.

"Come BlackAgumon, we need to keep them on the parking lot and away from the mall "

"Why's that?" BlackAgumon asked as he run after Tai and towards the huge collection of cars.

"No people there." Tai said as he nearly tripped over his leash. 'If we're lucky.'

"Hey ugly!" Tai yelled at a ShadowVilemon that was about to enter the mall through a different entrance. The creature looked at him. "Hah! You looked!"

This pissed the ShadowVilemon off. Big time. "Get them!!" Tai heard him yell as Mimi ran up to him. The rest of the Shadow digimon did as the small champion said and left the mall alone, for now.

"Okay, so there are about five, six evil ultimates and four champions after us." Tai said as he scanned the parking lot.

BlackAgumon nodded.

"Tai I think that was a very bad idea." Mimi nearly yelled as the army of shadow creatures came closer.

"You're probably right. Can SkullGreymon and Lilymon take them on?" Tai asked quickly.

"Don't think so. There are too many." BlackAgumon sighed. Palmon nodded in agreement.

Tai thought about what to do. Yolei was still off contacting the others. Kari and Sora were gone. There were Mimi and Palmon, BlackAgumon and himself but that's still three ultimates and a human against four champions and six ultimates. They were greatly outnumbered. They couldn't run because if they did, the digimon would start attacking the mall and the humans still there.

"This might be a stupid idea." Tai started. "But can you digivolve to mega?"

"Haven't tried it yet." BlackAgumon said back.

Tai dodged an attack thrown by an unknown digimon.

"**DemiSphinxmon digivolves to…**

"**Lowemon!"**

He blocked an attack on Mimi's life with his shield. And tripped over the leash still round his neck.

"Stupid thing." He muttered as he ripped it of and turned back to the battle. "Now might be a good time to try."

"Okay then."

BlackAgumon began to glow a silver-like colour.

"**BlackAgumon warp digivolves to…****"**

"Hell yeah!." Tai yelled as he saw the light take on a shape. Mimi just stared at the form.

Meanwhile at the river.

"Don't these things ever take a break?" Joe asked Cody, who was standing next to him. "Apparently no." He responded.

A blast of dark energy came from one of the shadow digimon and knocked Ankylomon out.

"Ankylomon!" Cody yelled as his friend dropped into the water. Zudomon reacted on instinct and quickly dove to get the unconscious dinosaur digimon out of the water.

The moment he got a hold of Ankylomon he was attacked by a ShadowGesomon.

Two tentacles wrapped around Zudomon's feet. Zudomon just did as he always did and knocked the shadow creature out with a well aimed hammer strike.

Quickly he swam upward to the surface as Ankylomon was about to suffocate.

He threw him back onto dry land before resuming his battle with the numerous digimon.

"Ankylomon, are you okay?" Cody rushed towards the champion's still form.

"Don't worry. A bit of water won't kill me." Ankylomon said as he struggled to stand up again before dedigivolving to Armadillomon.

"Hey!!!"

A voice sounded from the heavens.

"Need a hand?" An other voice yelled. Joe looked up to see Birdramon and Angewomon.

"**Birdramon digivolves to…"**

"**Garudamon!"**

The huge bird dropped Sora gently on the ground before punching a possessed Shellmon.

"What the hell is going on here?" Joe asked the two new-comers, as Angewomon had put Kari down as well.

"No idea." Kari said. "All these digimon just appeared all over town." Sora continued.

"There were some at the park to but Matt, Ken and Davis were there." Kari said as she remembered flying over there. She saw how Imperialdramon and MetalGarurumon were fighting the possessed digimon. "Yolei is contacting the others, tough there aren't that many others left."

Zudomon, Angewomon, and Garudamon quickly took care of the few water digimon occupying the river.

"Okay." Kari said as she looked at the pile of unconscious digimon. " Let's go help the others."

The moment she said those words she saw another bird-like creature coming to them. Yolei and Aquilamon.

"Am I late for the party?" She asked.

"Not really." Joe responded. "This was just one group. There are others spread over the entire city."

Yolei nodded. "I know, I saw them when Aquilamon flew me over town."

"Did you manage to contact the others?" Sora asked.

She nodded again. "TK, Izzy and Jun are going to the school to 'protect' what's left of the building."

"That's great- what do you mean ' and Jun'?" Joe said with a confused look.

Yolei smiled. "No idea actually. I think Izzy finally took her to the Digital World and got her a D3."

"Oh dear." Cody said as he thought about that. "Davis is gonna freak.

"Let's worry about that later. Right now we have to help Tai and BlackAgumon." Kari quickly said as Angewomon picked her up.

"Why them first?" Cody asked.

"They are severely outnumbered." Sora responded as Garudamon picked her up.

"Then what about the others?" Cody continued. "Ken, Davis and Matt have two mega levels and at the school were only two ultimates and a champion, so TK, Jun and Izzy should be fine. "Tai and Mimi were up against about ten digmon, so they need our help the most."

"You're right. But I still think we should check on the others as well." Cody did one last attempt.

"You're right, me and Joe will go to the mall and you guys go to the park and the school." Kari said as Angewomon took off. Beneath her she saw Zudomon, with Joe on his back, running through the streets trying his best not to squish any humans.

"Hey Kari!" Joe yelled up to her. "Do you know why those digimon are here?"

Kari just shook her head.

"Great. Then we'll have to ask them politely this time." Joe mumbled.

Soon they arrived at the mall. And neither of them was expecting to see that.

"What the hell!"

* * *

Yes I am evil. This was actually a rather hard chapter.  
Okay people I want guesses. Who ever guesses what BlackAgumon turned into gets a free cookie! (Warning: cookie may or may not exist) I'll even give a small hint. Translate this and you'll probably figure out who it is: Da is die ene slechterik uit het eerste seizoen, de derde van die vier die verslagen worden.

As I said: I'm evil

Reviews  
Vigatus: The same. Filler is evil! And I didn't know that about betting, but I'm from Belgium so my English ain't perfect and I'll probably make more of those mistakes. (Though I will try to remember about betting)

Lord Pata: Take a guess :) And yes Gatomon will have to go to a shrink once this is over. And who wouldn't enjoy all the riches of modern society? lol

Firehedgehog: That would be cool!

Rubberman2025: You'll know next chapter :)

Depthmon: Thank you

Kit Ninja: Actually there is a reason: I think that since Tai's face isn't hidden anymore he regained a bit of his humanity. But he might get it back sooner or later 'hint-hint'

Thank you all for reading!


	25. The darkness within

Don't own so don't sue.

* * *

Spirits of destiny

Chapter 25

Kari stared at her brother, or specifically at the thing he was standing on.

"Death from above motha-!" An exploding car interrupted what ever Tai was trying to yell at the Shadow digimon. Kari prayed that mom never heard Tai say that. Else he'd be grounded for another two months.

"Tai!" Mimi yelled at her supposed boyfriend, even though he wasn't exactly human at the moment. "Calm down. You're like some kid with a new toy." Mimi thought about that for a second. "The only difference is that most kids don't use that kind of language."

"Sorry Mimi." Tai said back before turning back to the battle.

"Hey Machindramon! Fire off an other one of those canons, would you?"

The newly discovered digivolution of BlackAgumon nodded before aiming his weapons at a possessed Garudamon.

"Giga cannon!" Twin red beams were fired at the dark-blue Garudamon, knocking it out of the air.

"Good shot!" Tai yelled from atop of Machindramon's head. "Hey Mimi? How are those champions coming along?"

Mimi ran to the other side of Machindramon, carefull not to get crushed by his huge feet. There were four Shadow digimon. All four of them were tied together with one of Lillymon's Flower wreaths. This attack apparently calmed the digimon down.

"You know what." A ShadowVilemon said.

"What?" A ShadowFugamon asked.

"It might just be because of those pretty flowers but I've been thinking. Why do we always fight? I meanw, why don't we all work towards a world of peace and understanding?"

"I never thought about that." ShadowFugamon replied. "But I'm starting now."

Mimi stifled a laugh. "They're taken care of." She grinned. She then noticed Kari and Joe standing there. It was a bit hard to miss Zudomon but when there's an even bigger war-machine fighting only a few meters away, well you just don't pay attention to your surroundings.

"Mimi what the hell happened here?" Kari asked as Angewomon took off to help Tai and Machinedramon. Not that they needed it.

"BlackAgumon digivolved to mega level and turned into that." She pointed at the huge machine that grabbed a hold of a scorpion of sorts and squeezed the life out of it.

"Wow, so it is true." Joe said from atop of Zudomon as he took a better look at Machinedramon. "Man we just have to ask Gennai about this."

Kari nodded in agreement.

A few minutes later all ultimates were knocked out and the champions were still discussing the finer points of life, love, war and peace.

"So is that all of them?" Tai asked, still from atop of Machinedramon's head.

"I think so" Joe said as he climbed to the top Zudomon's shield and scanned the area for more digimon. The only ones he saw where their own. "Yup that's all of them."

Tai quickly purified them before sending them back to their world

Soon Davis, Ken, Matt and Yolei decided to show up as well.

"Damn! What the hell is that?" Davis yelled from atop of Imperialdramon.

"That's Machinedramon, but we destroyed him!" Matt yelled back.

"It's BlackAgumon's mega level." MetalGarurumon said quickly before any of them began to panic.

"How do you know that?" The twin voices of Imperialdramon asked him.

"I may be a robot but I can still smell friends from miles away. And curly fries."

Deciding to ignore that last bit Matt jumped off of his back once the machine wolf stopped moving.

"Damn." He said as he looked over all the smashed up cars. "I hope these people have digimon-insurance."

"If you think that's bad, what about me? How the hell are we gonna DNA-digivolve now?" MetalGarurumon asked the other, bigger machine, who just shrugged. Which was actually quite strange to see.

"TK!" Kari suddenly yelled as she waved at the four forms coming closer: MagnaAngemon, MegaKabuterimon, Garudamon and Aquilamon.

"Wow." Was the first thing all of the newcomers said. "BlackAgumon, is that you?" MegaKabuterimon asked the moment they landed.

"Yes, it's me." He growled in a mechanical, yet familiar, way.

"That's one big digimon." Jun said as she walked up to him, not showing any fear for the creature at all. But she never had to fight against the Dark Masters, so she didn't know if she should fear him.

A red ball with scales, four legs and a tail followed her.

"That's a Machinedramon." It squeaked. "But this is the first time I've ever seen one of them in real life."

"Ehh…" All the digidestined, except Jun, Izzy and TK stared at the red thing.

"Who's the new guy?" Tai asked as he jumped off of Machinedramon's head.

"That's Gigimon, Jun's partner digimon." Izzy said with a grin on his face. "I kind of took her to the Digital World with me."

"Well, all help is appreciated. Especially now with this new evil and stuff." Kari said.

Jun snorted. "New evil? Oh please. Those minions of his were nothing. Even Gigimon was able to defeat them."

"Uh-huh! They were easy." Gigimon said as she stepped in front of Jun.

"How on earth did you get a digimon?" Davis went nearly hysterical. "You numbskull. If you paid any attention then you would have heard that Izzy and I made a trip to the Digital World."

"But I already told you it's dangerous there." Davis continued his assault.

"So what? You're in danger every day."

This silenced Davis. "She's right you know." Ken said to his friend. "Shut up."

"And when we encounter this so called 'New Evil' we'll kick his ass to!" Jun continued.

"She's really Davis's sister." Tai whispered to his own sister. "You're right about that. They even have matching digimon"

"Yeah that evil digimon doesn't stand a chance!" Gigimon just continued.

"Really?"

A voice dripping with evil spoke, causing the three megas and all the ultimates to turn around, looking for whatever that voice belonged to.

"So you plan on defeating me as well? Kick my ass, as you like to put it?"

It spoke again, coming from nowhere, yet from all around them.

Kari saw two red eyes in the shadows Machinedramon cast over them for like a split-second and then it was gone.

MagnaAngemon readied his sword. "I know that voice."

"I recognized it to." TK said as he remembered that voice. It had been long since he last heard it. But not long enough.

"Devimon!" TK yelled. "Show your face!"

"Ah so you do remember me little TK." The voice shifted from location again and Cody could have sworn she saw two red eyes in Zudomon's shadow.

All the original digidestined stared to look a bit uncomfortable. They had destroyed him so many years ago. But just like any digimon he must have been reborn in the primary village, just to start wrecking havoc again.

"What do you want Devimon?!" Tai demanded.

"What's the matter Tai? Not happy to see me again. Well not that you can see me."

Again the voice shifted to another location.

"I see that you've managed to come back from the dead Tai. I thought that ShadowWereGarurumon did a rather nice job on your body." GearDevimon said as he thought about the remains of Tai's body. "But now you're back and you apparently changed as much as I did."

A few gasps were heard at the fact that Devimon had something to do with Tai's death.

Again the pair of eyes in the shadows that no one noticed.

"After Angemon foolishly sacrificed himself to destroy me, well how to say this… I changed."

TK looked around and saw the red eyes. They were just hovering in front of him in the shadow of MegaKabuterimon.

"He's hiding in the shadows!" TK yelled as MagnaAngemon saw what he saw and attacked the air in front of TK. Whatever was hiding there disappeared just in time to dodge the blade.

"I see you have already noticed my new abilities. You see, when you destroyed me I was still connected to the Black Gears. They changed me, made me weak. I lost all of my attacks, but they gave me something in return."

Tai looked around. With all those huge digimon standing here Devimon had no problem hiding in their shadows. It didn't help that the parking lot was rather big, it was large enough for all their digimon. So there were enough places to hide and to move through the shadows.

"Who needs special attacks when you control an army as vast as mine!?" GearDevimon cackled insanely.

"So you're the one who is controlling those digimon!" Tai yelled at the shadows.

"How do you do it?" An ever curious Izzy asked.

"Simple. Like this!" GearDevimon materialised again and leapt out of the shadows. His intended target in sight.

"Shadow Possesion!" He yelled as he slammed a fist into Zudomon's head. The darkness quickly spread through Zudomon's body, leaving him a twisted version of the kind, yet dangerous creature.

ShadowZudomon threw Joe of his back. Luckily Machinedramon was able to catch him just before he was thrown into the remains of the mall. Not that hitting metal was any better.

"What the hell did you do to him!!" Joe screamed at the now visible devil digimon.

"I made him my new pet. With my entire militia defeated I need someone to fight for me."

GearDevimon spread his six wings wide open and rose into the air.

"Fear the terrible might of GearDevimon!!"

ShadowZudomon slammed his hammer down, intending to crush a few digidestined. They had nowhere to run to, as the parking lot was littered with car wrecks everywhere, they blocked any way out. Luckily MegaKabuterimon posed as a shield and took the blunt force of the hit.

But that didn't stop Zudomon. He just continued to strike MegaKabuterimon's shell.

"You see, as long as my shadow possession is in place they will do whatever I say. I can turn the best of friends against each other with one word. That is true power!!"

"You're even more crazy then last time!" Tai yelled at the creature while Matt, Cody and Davis did their best to prevent Joe from trying to rip GearDevimon apart. 'Major déjà vu.' Matt thought as he held back the struggling young doctor.

"Maybe I am." GearDevimon said as he floated back down. "But rest assured, I will turn each and every one of your friends against you till I have you."

Tai looked a bit confused. "Why do you need me?"

"I need your help for something and I sincerely doubt you'll come along, so I'm just gonna force you."

"Hell no. And by the way." Tai quickly drew his crystal out. "Your power ain't that almighty."

Tai chucked the crystal at ShadowZudomon. GearDevimon, who had no idea of what he was trying to do, let it pass by like nothing.

"Was that your desperate attempt to save your friend here, well I'm not-"

He got cut of by a bright silver light and a roar from ShadowZudomon.

The until just now possessed digimon aimed his hammer at GearDevimon, who just barely dodged it.

"How did you do that!" GearDevimon demanded.

"None of your business." Tai replied coldly.

"Well Tai, you have turned out to be a very challenging opponent. You know what? I'll make you a deal." GearDevimon decided to try a different approach.

"What?" Tai said bluntly, not really interested in whatever the creature had to say.

"Since I am unable to defend myself any longer and you are able to turn my minions against me, I propose a trade. If you let me go unharmed, I'll give you back your old and dear friend…"

He pulled a humanoid shape out of the shadows.

"Gennai!" Izzy yelled.

"Let him go GearDevimon!" Tai shouted as he looked at the old withered man that Gennai had become. Again.

"Only if you let me go." GearDevimon smirked.

"Okay we'll let you walk away from here." Tai said back. At once the darkness that possessed Gennai disappeared out of his system, making him a free man once more.

He wanted to yell something but was to weak to open his mouth.

GearDevimon threw to the ground.

"Well this was an interesting experience but now I must depart." GearDevimon said before fading into the shadows.

"Well, we got rid of him." Lillymon said as she checked the surroundings.

"Shadow Possesion!!"

"Or not!" Mimi yelled.

GearDevimon jumped out of the shadows again. And this time he was aiming at Tai.

The darkness spread into Tai's system.

"You're mine now boy." GearDevimon said with a smug grin on his face.

For everyone the world stood still for a second. Until...

"Hell no." Tai yelled as he pushed the devil digimon away.

This time GearDevimon really disappeared.

"Is he gone now?" Lillymon asked.

Matt walked over to where the possessed version of Zudomon had stood. There he picked up Tai's crystal. He would have just returned it to him if it weren't for that light coming from the champion.

Tai dropped down from the struggle, obviously exhausted by the battle against the shadow digimon and the Shadow Possession attack.

He dedigivolved to DemiSphinxmon. Joe picked the limp rookie up. "He's just asleep." He quickly said.

Kari took her brother from Joe and checked him. 'He's exhausted. Poor thing.'

"Okay people, we should check for places where we can help. There might still be human victims around here." Matt said, deciding to take on the role of leader for a while.

Hours later the city was cleared of most debris and the injured were found. Life for the normal people just went on. Not for the digidestined. The possessed digimon they left at the school, park and river were gone. GearDevimon must have taken them with him.

Izzy dragged a barely conscious Gennai home as everyone decided that Izzy knew the most about him and was the only one that knew how to help him. He promised to call everyone once Gennai regained his strenght.

Some other digidestined searched for GearDevimon but came to the realisation that he must have returned to the Digital World.

It was already dark when Tai, Mimi, Joe and Kari went to the siblings their home. Joe and Mimi just decided to tag along. One of them wanted to do a quick check-up on Tai one he woke up, the other wanted to know when she could start pampering him.

"Hey Tai wake up." Kari tried again. Tai hadn't woken up since GearDevimon's attack and Kari was starting to worry about him.

"Kari you should let him sleep." Joe said in a wise way. "I already told you he's just exhausted."

"I know but this can't be normal. I mean he's been asleep since the battle and has hardly moved since."

"Just let him sleep for a while." Mimi reassured her. "He'll wake up soon."

Meanwhile the digimon were caught up in their own conversation. Baromon had seen the news reports and was interrogating them about the current events.

"So you really turned into Machinedramon?" Baromon asked again.

"Yes and leave me alone now." Koromon said, highly annoyed by the champion.

"That's so cool." Baromon said for the tenth time. "And what about Tai? What happened to him?"

"Don't know." Salamon said simply.

"That creep tried the same attack on Tai as he did on me." Gomamon said. "I'm glad he didn't have to go through that."

Gomamon looked down a bit. "It felt so awful. It was me, but I couldn't stop myself. GearDevimon just commanded me to destroy and I couldn't do anything to stop him."

He fell silent again.

"I know how you feel. The first time I turned into SkullGreymon I felt the same."

"Hey don't worry about it." Palmon said in attempt to cheer Gomamon up.

Meanwhile Tai was still asleep. He was dreaming. A thing he hadn't done for quite some time. Since he came back to the real world he hadn't had any 'meaningful' dreams.

That changed this time.

"_Obey." A voice said to Tai. It had been saying that for quite some time. "Obey your new master."_

"_Why?" Tai simply asked. He figured that this voice was just a remain of GearDevimon's attempt to take him over._

"_You will obey your new master!" The voice suddenly grew louder. At first it had just been a whisper but now it was roaring._

_The sound hurt his ears and Tai began to move in his sleep._

Kari looked at her brother. He had suddenly started to shake, as if he was in pain.

"Joe! Something's happening!" She yelled at the blue-haired doctor in training.

He quickly took a look at Tai while Yuuko and Mimi decided to come and see as well.

Joe just pushed his glasses up again, as they had slipped down. "He's just dreaming." He said.

This calmed Kari down a biy. "I wonder what he's dreaming about."

_Tai was still fighting against the voice that started to intrude his mind. But it wasn't helping._

"_OBEY!"_

"_**Don't listen to him!!"**__ Tai's digimon side suddenly yelled. He had decided to help his other half, cause if Tai was controlled so would he._

_But that didn't help either._

_The last thing Tai heard was his digimon side swearing before he fell into darkness._

Tai's eyes opened up.

"He's awake!" Kari nearly cried.

"Tai, how are you feeling?" Joe asked, as he was still a bit worried about his 'patient'

Tai didn't say anything. He just started coughing and he sounded like he was about to throw up.

"I think he's just a bit hoarse." Joe made his diagnose.

"Really? I think he looks more like a dog." Gomamon added.

"I don't get it." Baromon said.

Gomamon would have explained it if it weren't for…

"What the hell?!"

Tai began to glow a wicked dark purple colour.

"What's happening?" Mimi asked, shocked by the sudden display.

"I have no idea." Joe said as he backed away from the rookie.

The purple light completly surrounded Tai as he shifted into something else.

Yuuko screamed as she saw what had taken Tai's place. It looked like a human ribcage and spine with some internal organs inside of it. A huge eyeball was one end of the spine, functioning as a head. The iris was a deep red colour and the eye was locked in an eternal stare, as it had no eyelids. Where normally the shoulder blades woud be, were vulture-like wings. At the other end of the ribcage were two scrawny bird legs and a rat's tail.

All things considered it was a creature made of nightmares.

"What the hell is that?"

The creature locked his sole eye on the human that said that. A women, older then the other occupants of the room.

She gulped when the eye gazed at her.

"Tai?" Mimi was the first to try something. "Is that you?"

A feeling came up in his mind. This girl was important to him for some reason but he couldn't remember why.

"_Come to your master slave! And hurry! We don't have any time to waste."_

A voice said to him in his head. "Yes master." He said with a toneless voice. The humans and digimon flinched as they heard that voice. It came from within the eye. It was so cold, so not like Tai.

Before anyone could react the creature that was once Tai took off. He flew forward, dodged any attempts of the humans to grab him and crashed through a window, shattering all the glass. He didn't pay attention to any cuts or the fact that one of his legs was bleeding. He just needed to get to his master.

"Tai!!" Koromon yelled. "Come back!"

Kari quickly sat down on the couch. She started hyperventilating. She had lost him. Again!

"Kari, I need you to calm down." Joe said to the stressed out teen. "We will get him back, okay?" He tried to reassure her, but actually he needed it more. He didn't want to lose Tai again. Not after just getting him back.

Mimi didn't know what to do. She had just lost Tai again. She loved him and now he was gone again. Just when they were starting to accept their feelings for each other he disappeared again.

She clenched her hand into a fist.

"GearDevimon! I'm coming for you!" Mimi yelled out of the window. A few neighbours complained to her about it but she didn't care.

Yuuko didn't know how to handle this. She had had her son back for a few days and now he turned into _that_. She just hoped that her daughter could bring him back as soon as possible.

The only sound that was heard for a while was a sorrowful howl coming from Phoenix.

Meanwhile the creature was flying through the night sky. With all the lights out here in the city it wasn't hard to find his way.

'**What the hell are you doing!?' **A voice called out to him.

'Obeying the master.' He responded as he landed at the damaged school.

'**Why?'** The annoying voice asked again.

'He's the master.' Tai answered. He didn't remember why but this voice was an annoyence to him.

'**Idiot'** The voice said before deciding to try an other time to talk to his other side.

Soon Tai found what he was looking for: a small rip between dimensions. GearDevimon left it there for him.

He quickly hopped through it as it closed behind him.

Once in the Digital World he continued his flight to his goal.

"GearDevimon!!" The voices inside the crystal yelled. "Where is he?! Or did you fail us again!" It screamed before turning a deep red colour.

"No my lord. I didn't fail you. As a matter of fact, he's on his way now." GearDevimon cowered before his imprisoned masters.

"Very well. You have five minutes, if he doesn't show up by then we'll destroy you." One voice said.

GearDevimon waited anxiously. If his new pet didn't show up soon he'd be dead.

"One minute left." A voice said unable to repress a laugh.

GearDevimon suddenly heard the flapping of wings.

The creature had finally arrived.

"Took you long enough!" He yelled at the vulture-eye-something hybrid.

"Is that it?" The first voice asked. Is that creature created from pure darkness?"

The other voice snorted. "Pathetic. Looks kind of like that one annoying rookie. I hated that thing!"

"You!" GearDevimon sneered at the vulture creature. "Digivolve! Now!"

The creature did as his master commanded.

"**Giermon digivolves to****…**

A silver light surrounded him. Yet it seemed as if it had lost all shine as his shape warped and twisted into a new one.

"**Duskmon."**

"That's better." The second voice said.

Duskmon drew out his sword and planted it into the ground and kneeled while still holding the handle.

"I live to serve you my lord." Duskmon said, all emotion drained from his voice. His face was once again covered by cold steel.

GearDevimon smiled. Today had been a good day. He had a new pet and he would soon unleash his masters onto this world once more.

At the same moment, all over the Digital World the Ancients fell a shiver go down their spine.

* * *

Yes I am evil. Very evil. But who saw this coming? And by the way: Gier is dutch for vulture. You pronounce it kinda like 'gear' 

And it's Machinedramon!! If you were able to translate my hint you would have read this: It's the bad guy from season one, the third one of those four that get defeated.

And apparently Machinedramon is SkullGreymon's Mega so I picked him.

Reviews  
Vigatus: Sorry no BlackWargreymon, even though he does kick ass

Lord Pata: Congratulations! You're one of the few who made a correct guess! 'Throws_ cookie'_

digi-writer1392: It's Machinedramon!

Fruitloop Trooper: And a cookie for you. _'Throws another cookie'_

Coppa-Cola: Thanks

Depthmon: DemiSphinxmon is Tai's rookie form

graypheonix: I know that BlackWarGreymon would have been cool but I like Machinedramon better

vanhelsing425: Thanks and yes I am very evil _'evil laugh'_

GRX3m0m: Thanks and yes, it could have been anyone with a twisted auther like me.

Bye and thanks for reading!!


	26. Other side of the wall

Don't own so don't sue.

Note: Tai will be refered to as Duskmon from now.

* * *

Spirits of destiny

Chapter 26

'_Tweet-tweet'_

"Deadly gaze!!" Duskmon yelled as he send a ray of dark red energy towards a tree full of bird-like digimon.

"Stupid birds." Duskmon said calm as the birds left. "Jerk!" A Biyomon yelled at him.

He stood guard in front of a cave. His master was currently arguing with the creatures in the crystal deciding what to do for the time being.

'**I can't believe you're actually referring to that thing as your master.' **A voice in his mind said to him. Duskmon couldn't figure out where he had heard this voice before.

He deciding to ignore the voice for the time being as his master summoned him to his side.

"You called, my lord?" Duskmon nearly grovelled in front of GearDevimon.

"Duskmon! I have a task for you." GearDevimon said to his newest pet.

"Anything my lord." Duskmon said with an emotionless voice.

GearDevimon laughed at the fact that the so-called digidestined of courage, the leader of the light was now his to command.

In the Human World.

Dawn came and Kari still wasn't able to catch some sleep. She was to worried about her brother. Once again he was gone but at least they knew he was still alive. Even if he was a slave to GearDevimon. That meant he could be saved.

At least she hoped so.

But she still couldn't erase the image of Tai's corrupted form out of her mind. It scared her for some reason. Maybe just because of the huge eye or the fact that his internal organs were visible.

Or maybe because of the fact that it was Tai while it shouldn't have been.

She sighed as she got out of bed. No use staying in there if she couldn't sleep and the sun was already rising so it wouldn't take long before she stood up anyway.

Soon she was ready to face the others again. Gennai had been revived and was willing to share his findings with the other digidestined.

Salamon was rather depressed. She had promised herself to never let Tai out of her sight and she had failed to do so. But sulking at a moment like this wasn't going to help Tai. They had to think of something to rescue the eyeball.

Koromon had similar thoughts. Again his friend was gone. Again he had failed to protect him. Even with all the firepower Machinedramon possessed he wasn't able to stop GearDevimon.

He quickly hoped towards the kitchen. He couldn't afford to run out of energy, not now.

Kari checked her e-mail. A new message from Izzy told her that he expected everyone to come to the park around two o'clock in the afternoon.

"Great, now we have to wait till then before we can do anything." Salamon complained. Baromon just stayed quiet. He still didn't know how to handle this situation.

"It's not that long." Kari said as she picked the dog-like creature up.

"And Tai will be home soon." She continued, even though she doubted her own words just a little bit.

Time seemed to just crawl but eventually it was nearly two o'clock. Kari, Baromon, Salamon and Koromon left for the park. Phoenix tagged along as well, though he had no idea why they were going. He was just excited about going out again.

They arrived at the clearing in the park, even though half of it was blown up by SkullGreymon. It was visible to most bystanders but no one bothered to get across to them so they were safe.

"Okay Gennai. Talk." Kari said once she saw the old man. She wanted answers.

"Relax Kari." Izzy said to the girl. "I'll answer your questions once everyone else gets here, after all I don't want to start sounding like a broken old record, do I?" Gennai smirked.

"Fine I'll wait but the others better show up soon."

"Hey where's Tai?" Izzy asked as he looked around for their leader.

"That's just it. Tai was kidnapped." Kari said quickly.

"What?" Izzy, Tentomon and Gennai asked at the same time. "Who has him?"

"It was GearDevimon." Koromon replied. "Last night Tai suddenly changed into something else and went to him."

"Wait how do you even know that it was GearDevimon? I mean, his attack didn't have any effect." Izzy said confused.

"Apparently it did and Tai called someone 'his master' so that must have been GearDevimon that ordered Tai to go to him." Salamon pitched in.

"No, no this isn't good." Gennai held his head with his hands.

Soon the others showed up and Kari decided to start interrogating him.

"Okay Gennai, as you probably figure out: we want answers." Kari said menacingly. "What is GearDevimon and why did he have you under control?"

Gennai thought back about his time as a slave. Unlike most others he still remembered what he did as a pawn.

"GearDevimon was created because of the Black Gears, you already knew that. That change happened because of the fact that digimon are able to absorb digital data under certain circumstances. Devimon involuntarily absorbed the data when you destroyed him."

TK walked up to the old man. "So what you're saying is that we made him so?"

"I'm afraid so." Gennai said. "But don't blame yourself, Devimon was a threat to all digimon. You did the right thing to destroy him back then."

"Okay, so that's explained now. But why did he enslave you?" Joe asked as he took off his glasses to clean them.

"I'm afraid that GearDevimon is trying to free an unspeakable evil upon this world."

"Great, another evil mastermind that wants us dead." Gomamon commented.

"So what? We'll just destroy it like we always do." Matt said to the old man.

"That's the major problem. It's not just one thing." Gennai said grimly. "The cage GearDevimon is trying to unlock is filled with evil."

The digidestined gasped at this.

"Imagine this: thousands and thousands of years there have been evil digimon. Those most vile were locked into a crystal. Do you know how much destruction they could cause if they ever escaped?"

Izzy thought about something.

"What do you mean by that they were locked into a crystal?"

Gennai chuckled at the ever curious teen.

"As you know there have always been evil digimon. Most of them are just reconfigured when they are destroyed and start their life anew, be it good or evil. But sometimes creatures like Piedmon, Myotismon and likewise appear."

The digidestined nodded and shuddered as they thought back off all the evil they had defeated.

"Sometimes." Gennai continued. "There are creatures that should never see the light of the sun again. Those creatures are locked away into SoulStones."

Matt took out Tai's crystal and showed it to Gennai. "Like these? Tai told us that his soul was locked into one of these."

"That's the one. They can store incredible amounts of energy." Gennai said as he took it from Matt.

"How did you get this one?" He asked a bit confused.

"It's Tai's." Matt said simply. "I've been meaning to give it back to him since yesterday but he's not even here."

This made Mimi, Joe, Kari and their digimon cringe.

"That's another of our problems." Gennai said as he looked away from the teens.

Kari stepped up. "Tai was… he was… kidnapped…last night." She uttered.

"What?!!" All those who didn't know about that exclaimed.

"Last night he changed into something else and was pulled away from his home." Joe said. "And us."

Everyone swallowed hard at that information.

Gennai was the first to speak. "We need to return Tai to normal and fast."

"You're right but where do we start looking?" Ken asked the old man.

'_Ka-boom!!'_

"Let's start there." Davis said as he saw a rift opening inside of the crater. Two Shadow digimon crawled through it, followed by a smaller human-like creature.

"Just our luck, more enemies." Gabumon growled.

"Are you the humans known as the digidestined?" One of the creatures asked, almost in a polite way.

"Depends on who wants to know!" Davis yelled as the team moved into the crater.

The creature grinned, though no one was able to see him do so because of he helmet that obscured his face.

"I'll take that as a yes." Duskmon said before turning to Davis. "My master send me here to destroy you. You will no longer interfere with his plans."

"Sorry but interfering is what we do best." Davis spat back.

"Everyone ready?"

The others nodded.

Even though the Shadow Digimon were greatly outnumbered all partner digimon turned into their highest level.

Duskmon grinned. "Pathetic insects."

Garudamon and Zudomon closed in on him as the others decided to go for ShadowMetalGreymon and ShadowMetalMamemon.

"You two stay here." Kari said as she handed Koromon to Baromon. "But I want to fight." Baromon whined. "Yeah me too!" Koromon said as he tried to escape Baromon's grip. Phoenix just yawned since he didn't want to have anything to do with this.

"You can't digivolve and I want you to be our backup." Kari said before running of to the battle.

"This sucks." Baromon said as Koromon nodded.

Garudamon tried to cut Duskmon open with her sharp claws. But he was to fast. Every time she attacked one spot he had already moved to another.

"Zudomon he's to quick!" Garudamon yelled as she missed the corrupted warrior again.

"Can't help with that." He said as he did an own attempt to hit Duskmon. "I'm not much faster then you."

Another missed strike. Duskmon decided to issue an attack as he felt he had played long enough.

He pulled out his sword and landed on Garudamon's right wing. With a strike of the blunt side of his blade he struck Garudamon on the neck, knocking her out.

Zudomon couldn't believe what he saw. A small human-like champion had taken out one of the strongest ultimates he knew. AND with only one strike.

"Garudamon!!" Sora yelled as her digimon fell over and hit the ground rather hard. The redhead made her way to her partner.

"Easy." Duskmon said as he jumped off of the unconscious digimon and moved onto the next.

Zudomon wasn't exactly shaking in fear but he couldn't help but be a little bit afraid of what this creature was capable of. After all: he had only used one attack yet. And it wasn't even a special attack. Just a swipe of his blade. What more could that helmet of his be hiding?

"Vulcan's hammer!" Zudomon slammed his hammer down onto the corrupted warrior. Duskmon just moved out of the way.

"Is that it?" Duskmon said as he ran up to the ultimate. He jumped up and grabbed hold of the hair on Zudomon's arm. He used it to pull himself up and pushed himself off. In the blink of an eye he struck his sword on Zudomon's arm.

A huge gash formed on his hand as he dropped his hammer onto the ground.

"I'll get you for that!" Zudomon roared as he clenched his wounded arm.

"Zudomon!" Joe yelled at his partner. "Oh man this can't be good." He mumbled to himself. 'He already took Garudamon out and now he has disarmed Zudomon.'

Another strike and Zudomon was out cold. He dedigivolved to his in-training form and Joe quickly scooped him up.

Meanwhile Izzy, Jun, TK, Davis and Ken had already taken care of their designated digimon, ShadowMamemon. Off course they went easy on him. After all, two ultimates, a champion and a mega against one shadow digimon was overkill.

They quickly ran up to Joe and Sora. Duskmon was waiting patiently for his next opponent. He may be an evil digimon but he refused to kill these humans without giving them a chance to defend themselves.

"Joe, Sora! Are you okay?" Izzy asked as they came closer.

"We're fine but they aren't." Joe pointed at the two knocked out digimon. Sora was still trying to wake Garudamon up when a light surrounded her. She turned back into Yokomon. Sora picked her up and walked over to the new-comers.

"She's okay. I think." She said as Joe placed Bukamon down and took Yokomon from her. Joe did a quick check for any wounds or similarly. He was relieved that she had nothing, just a bump on the back of her head.

He handed the unconscious digimon back to her partner.

"What the hell happened here?" Ken asked as he kept an eye on Duskmon, who was still waiting. "And why isn't he attacking us?"

"Unlike most of us so-called 'evil digimon', I am willing to give you a chance to defend yourselves." Duskmon spoke up. Even though he stood a fair bit away from the digidestined he still understood them as if they stood right next to him.

"Okay that's good to know. Right?" Jun asked. This was her second battle so she knew what would happen but she hadn't expected to have any casualties on their side of the battle.

"I think so." Davis said. "He does seem a bit more civilised then the others. He hardly insulted us."

"Great, a dark digimon with a conscience and manners." TK snarled. He still had a rather large dislike for anything dark.

"Can we start fighting now? My master won't be pleased if I don't defeat you today."

"Oh shut up." Jun said, all doubts about their chances to win gone again. "Growlmon get him!"

A large saurian creature walked out from behind MegaKabuterimon. She hardly looked like her in-training form, except for the small wing-like ears. Joe and Sora were a bit shocked by her sudden appearence.

"Pyro Blaster!" She yelled before sending a huge fireball at Duskmon.

Duskmon didn't move and just allowed the attack to hit him.

"You see that? That's the way we handle jerks like you!" Jun screamed as the fireball impacted.

"Eh Jun? Honey? I don't think that you defeated him so easily." Izzy said as he pointed at the smoke.

"What? Of course we did, he's…" She fell silent as the smoke cleared, revealing an unscathed Duskmon standing there, with an even bigger grin then before.

"Was that it?" He asked as if nothing happened.

"Growlmon attack again!" Jun screamed as she saw the shape coming closer to them.

"MegaKabuterimon help her!" Izzy yelled at his partner.

"Horn Buster!" A blast of energy left his horn and was soaring towards the human-like creature. "Pyro Blaster!" Growlmon yelled again as she send another fireball towards Duskmon.

Again the attacks impacted.

"Each of your attacks seem to get weaker, not stronger." Duskmon taunted them as he continued to move closer to them.

Growlmon and MegaKabuterimon decided for an all-out attack. Duskmon laughed maniacally as the two digimon charged at him.

"Fools." He swung his sword in a circular fashion before striking the ground with it. A red arc of energy was launched towards the two digimon.

Jun screamed as the attack hit hers and Izzy's digimon.

The two of them were knocked into the air and dedigivolved. Izzy and Jun were able to catch them just in time.

"Anyone else?"

* * *

'Evil laugh!' Am I being too evil? Nah. Can't be 

Reviews

graypheonix: I know it's a bit vicious but I've been planning this since chapter one.

GRX3m0m: I created him, since Duskmon doesn't have a rookie form

Firehedgehog: Thank you

Depthmon: Thanks

Hakumei-chan: No problem, and I like Duskmon. He's just plain evil!

Lord Pata: As I said, I've been planning to get him into the story since chapter one.

Coppa-Cola: Plot-Twists rule and thank you!

Fruitloop Trooper: 'drools' chocolate (think homer simpson style)... And no, Matt didn't give the crystal back due to stuff happening at the moment.

Martiny: I liked the fourth season, except of course the fact that there weren't any partner digimon. And don't worry to much about Tai. He'll be fine. (probably)

Vigatus: Maybe that will happen, or maybe his other side will join up with Tai and destroy the universe!! (You can decide which one sounds better)

Thanks for reading!


	27. Friendly fire

Don't own so don't sue.

* * *

Spirits of destiny

Chapter 27

"Who's next?" Duskmon asked again. "Hurry up, I don't have all day."

He stared at the bunch of foolish creatures. Not one of them had given him any trouble. So far.

'Are these humans the thorns in my masters side?' Duskmon thought to himself as Imperialdramon fighter mode decided to fight him. 'Pathetic.'

"Positron Laser!" He yelled as he aimed his canon at Duskmon. A bright light laser beam was fired at Duskmon, who just jumped out of the way. The mega may be powerful but his aim was way off.

"Positron Laser!" Another blast came rushing towards him.

This time he wasn't so lucky. The laser cut through the armor on his left arm. The skin was only burned a bit but he now had a rather large weak spot in his armor.

He rushed towards the mega level. He knew that they would never see it coming.

With a swift slide between Imperialdramon's legs Duskmon was behind the mega.

"Imperialdramon! Behind you!" Ken yelled out as Duskmon jumped up and slammed his blade into Imperialdramon's back.

The blade pierced his armor and…

Nothing. The mega's armor was too strong for the sword to fully pierce it and now it was stuck.

"Great! It seems that you underestimated us Duskmon!" Davis yelled at the disarmed champion.

"No I didn't. it just seemed that your friend here is a lot more thick-skinned then I thought." Duskmon said as Imperialdramon nearly stepped on him.

Meanwhile Matt and the others had taken care of the two other digimon that came with Duskmon. With the help of Gennai they were able to send them back to their world.

"Need a hand?" MetalGarurumon asked as he saw the champion dancing around the other mega. The smaller Duskmon was able to stay out of reach from Imperialdramon's melee-attacks.

"Wouldn't mind it." The two voices spoke as he tried another attack. "Positron Laser!"

Again he missed and the beam burned away what was left of the trees.

"There goes the rest of the park." Joe said as he looked at the pile of smouldering trees. He smiled though as he noticed there was one tree that survived the attack.

"Giga missile!" MetalGarurumon yelled as he fired off a small but powerful projectile at Duskmon.

Duskmon dodged it. The missile flew past him and impacted on the only tree left in the area. The tree froze entirely, leaving a sulking Joe next to it.

'Interesting.' Duskmon thought as he dodged another swipe from Imperialdramon's leg.

Duskmon sunk his claws into the mega's armor and pulled himself up.

"Over here!" He yelled as he climbed higher, out of reach from Imperialdramon's attacks since he was on the mega's back. He quickly clung onto his sword and did desperate attempts to pull it out.

MetalGarurumon smirked. "Giga Missile." At that moment, when the rocket was launched, it dawned to Metalgarurumon that he might hit Imperialdramon. Of course he hadn't thought of that earlier and now the missile was on a steady course towards Imperialdramon.

Duskmon laughed as he finally managed to pull out his sword. And just in time, as the Giga Missile was about to hit him. On his way down he got kicked by the much larger mega, sending him flying but not far.

Imperialdramon thought that he had finally defeated the champion with that one kick and laughed. Off course this laughing came to an abrupt end as the missile impacted on his side, freezing him entirely.

Now where once a proud mega level stood, stood a surprisingly life-like ice sculpture of said mega.

"That was fun." Duskmon said as he looked up at the mega.

"I wonder what would happen if I shatter him." Duskmon said before lifting his blade.

"Like hell you will!" MagnaAngemon yelled as he flew forward, sword drawn.

A volley of sparks were seen as steel met light.

Duskmon struck his blade forward, piercing one of the eights wings MagnaAngemon possessed.

A cringe of pain was all he heard from the angel digimon, before he retaliated. Excalibur pierced the unprotected skin of Duskmon's left forearm.

Duskmon cried out in pain. This unworthy opponent had dared to draw blood. He would pay for it with his life.

A full overhead attack slammed down onto MagnaAngemon's blade while a wounded left arm punched him in the stomach.

Duskmon didn't show any signs of pain but inside it was eating him.

"You cheated." MagnaAngemon said, swords still locked. "Hello...Dark digimon." Duskmon said, as if that explained everything.

"In a fair fight I'd kill you." MagnaAngemon said as he pushed his sword closer to Duskmon.

"Then that's not really incentive for me to fight fair then, is it?" Duskmon said before punching MagnaAngemon a second time before flinging him away.

He hardly gave MagnaAngemon a chance to pull himself together before…"Deadly Gaze!!" A barrage of negative energy was launched at his opponent.

MagnaAngemon was send flying. And this time without use of his wings. Lucky for him Angewomon and Lilymon were able to catch him before he fell to the ground as gravity worked its magic on him.

"Since no one here is strong enough to fight me." Duskmon said as he looked over to the remaining champions and ultimates. "I'll finish you all off now." He said with a hidden smile on his lips.

The only one that was a threat to his cause was MetalGarurumon. He was the only one that could stop him, but with a bit of luck he could at least kill half of the digidestined before the mega did so.

"Which one of you will be the first to fall to my blade?" He asked himself before scanning the people. Strange. In a way they reminded him of something. Something he couldn't remember, something important. He quickly banished that thought as he picked out a victim.

"You seem to have lived the longest." He said as he pointed at a young adult with short blue hair.

"Oh crap." Joe said as he noticed that he was the one Duskmon pointed at.

"That's what they all say." Duskmon said before charging towards the teen.

"No!" A voice yelled. For some reason this voice stopped him for about a second. This was enough as MetalGarurumon slammed into him.

He was thrown away from the digidestined as MetalGarurumon did another bodyslam.

"Why do you keep fighting for these humans?" Duskmon said as he stood up.

"They're my friends." MetalGarurumon said with a convincing look in his eyes. Duskmon could have sworn that he had seen it before. But where?

"Don't you know that they will all die sooner or later?" Duskmon taunted the mega. "And soon they will all fall to my blade."

"Giga Missile!" The mega, who obviously, had had enough of his opponents rambling.

Duskmon dodged the missile.

"Metal Wolf Snout!" Four thin beams of energy were launched at Duskmon. He hadn't really recovered from the last attack and he was getting tired. The attack hit him head on.

He fell to his knees. "So I may have underestimated you." Duskmon said as he used his sword to push himself back up.

"But I will be victorious!" He screamed as he slammed his blade into MetalGarurumon. Or more precisely: were MetalGarurumon stood. The mega had off course already moved away from the attack. And now his blade was stuck. Again.

The mega quickly bit down on the blade. The steel fangs pierced the steel slightly and Metalgarurumon felt the evil in it. Still he refused to let go.

"Let go!" Duskmon yelled as if you would against a puppy that was chewing on one of your socks.

"Hell no!" MetalGarurumon muffled voice spoke as he dug his teeth even deeper. Duskmon did a desperate attempt to get his blade back and…

'_Snap!'_

The blade broke into pieces.

Duskmon stood there with the handle still in his hand.

"All right!" A human yelled. "Way to go MetalGarurumon!" Another screamed as MetalGarurumon chucked the remains of the blade away.

"Not so tough now, are you?" MetalGarurumon smirked as he stared at the warrior with a broken blade.

"Maybe I'm not." Duskmon said, not really panicking yet but he wasn't exactly calm either. He had lost his weapon and he didn't have enough energy left to digivolves. So basically it was either abort or get deleted.

That was an easy choice.

"So long digidestined!" He said before turning around and running back to the gate his master made between the worlds.

"You may live to see another day but next time I won't be so easily defeated!"

"Giga Missile!" MetalGarurumon yelled, sending one final attack towards the dark digimon.

"Yikes!" Duskmon shrieked before jumping through the gate. Luckily for him it closed in time, so the missile didn't follow him to the digital world. Instead it froze a rather large area of ground.

"Okay…" Sora started. "That was one of the scariest, yet weirdest things I've ever seen."

"And we've seen a lot – And I mean a LOT." Matt said as he pulled Sora closer. He was glad that no one had gotten seriously hurt. Except of course Imperialdramon, who was still on ice.

"How are we gonna defrost him?" Lilymon asked as she hovered over to the ice-sculpture.

"No idea." MagnaAngemon said as he looked at his friend and laughed silently. Half of Imperialdramon and him had always been friendly rivals but he just couldn't help himself.

"Maybe he'll just melt if we put him out in the sun." Yokomon, who had just awoken, spoke up.

"I don't think that's going to help much." Kari said as she pointed at the sky. it was rather clouded at the moment, though it didn't look like rain.

"I have an idea. Here hold him." Baromon said as he handed Koromon to Kari. "Hey put me down!"

Baromon had been forced to stay out of this battle and was anxious to do just about anything.

"Meteor Dance!" He yelled before he started to dance the Macarena.

"Hey Macarena!" He sang (rather out of tune) as a huge meteor dropped out of the sky and next to Imperialdramon.

"That should warm him up." Baromon said. Even from this distance he felt the heat produced by the rock.

Soon Imperialdramon was defrosted though he still looked a bit blue.

"Damn that was cold!" Imperialdramon said before dedigivolving into Wormmon and Veemon.

"Yeah, sorry about that." MetalGarurumon said as he turned red which was an odd thing to see, given the fact that he was almost entirely made of steel.

"N-n-no problem." Wormmon said, still shaking.

"Come on." Ken said. "Let's get you guys out of here."

"So Davis, did we win?" Veemon asked as Davis scooped him up.

"Barely. He nearly killed us." Davis said a bit grimly.

"He was incredibly strong." Izzy started as he took out his trusty computer and started it up.

"And fast. Don't forget that." Cody added.

Izzy taped away on his computer. Everyone realized that he would be off the world for a while. They scanned the area. Or what was left of it.

Most trees were disintegrated in this part of the park. And, to Joe's annoyance, there was one frozen tree. Overall the damage was rather small, except of course, the trees. But luckily there weren't any innocents around when Duskmon and his cronies appeared.

"Okay this is weird." Izzy suddenly said. "What is, love?" Jun asked as she looked at the screen as well.

"According to this database, Duskmon is a corrupted version of the so-called 'Warrior of Darkness', who ever that may be."

Gennai, who had kept silent during this entire ordeal, nearly fainted when he heard that.

"I'm afraid that we all know the Warrior of Darkness." Gennai said looking down.

"Then who is it?" Angewomon asked, still having to support MagnaAngemon.

"Haven't you noticed that he flinched when Mimi yelled at him? For a second he recognized her though he can't remember from where or when. The same is probably true for some other digimon."

Kari swallowed hard as she put two and two together. The warrior of **Darkness **and the fact that he recognized Mimi, even if it was vaguely.

"No that can't be true." Matt said. Apparently he had figured it out as well. "That just can't be true."

"I'm afraid that it is true. Duskmon is the corrupted version of Tai." Gennai said with a grim smile. At least now they knew what Tai looked like as a champion.

"It would explain why Duskmon was so powerful. I mean, a normal champion would never be able to defeat so many ultimate levels AND hold his ground against two mega levels." Joe said as he took off his glasses to clean them. There was a smudge of charred tree on it.

"Great, just great!" TK threw his arms up in the air. "So now we're fighting one of our best friends, who we only recently got back."

"And to make matters worse we have no idea where he went." Davis added.

"So what? Has that ever stopped us before?" Mimi suddenly said. "Tai is our friend. He'd do the same for us."

"She's right." Yolei said.

"Gennai." Kari turned to the old man. "Where can we find them." With them she meant GearDevimon and Tai.

"I told you all about the SoulStone with all the darkest creatures in the history of the Digital World in it, right?" Gennai started and everyone nodded.

"Well just like any other prison, it has a key."

"Okay so you think that GearDevimon is after this key?" Jun asked, getting more interested by the minute.

"I know that he wants it. He took the location from me by force. Hell, he even stole my technology to open and close gates." Gennai said as he remembered his time with GearDevimon. Most of it was a blur but that he remembered.

"So where is this key and where does Tai come into the picture?" Joe asked.

"The key itself is well protected. It's in a cave at the supposed edge of the map. It's locked away safely and it has a guardian with it as well."

"What's there to worry then?" Sora asked once the old man fell silent.

"The lock." Gennai started as he thought of how to put it best. "The lock and the guardian were created by the ten Ancients. They all gave a minor part of their power to lock the key away, until it was needed again."

Gennai allowed everyone to absorb this information before continuing.

"All of the elements are in harmony. Fire, ice, water, wind, earth, thunder, steel, wood, light and darkness. But if one of them were to gain more power then the others."

"Then it would overload and open up!" Izzy concluded.

"Exactly. Off course there's still the guardian but if GearDevimon brings a large enough militia then even he would fall." Gennai said with a slightly anxious tone to his voice.

"Great, just great. How long do we have?" TK asked.

"I don't know for sure but I can tell you one thing: if GearDevimon were to get the key, the Digital World and the Human world will end by next week. It would be, as you humans like to call it, hell on earth."

Many digidestined gasped at that.

"Well what are we waiting for?" Davis lifted his fist in the air. "Let's save Tai and then the world! Again!"

"Davis, calm down!" Yolei said as she grabbed his ear. "We need to prepare first before we go. Gennai said that the key was at the edge of the map." She let go off the now red ear.

"I don't know about you but I don't think that there's a TV-set over there."

"She's right. The only gateway close enough is at the edge of the mountains that surround the cave." Gennai added.

"Okay, so we'll need climbing gear, food to last a few days and I need a solid excuse to stay out of medschool for a few days." Joe said, thinking hard about the subject.

"Hey Davis." He suddenly said. "Can you incinerate my school?"

"For the last time: I didn't burn down the school!" Davis yelled.

"I know, it's just funny to see you throw a tantrum." Joe smirked.

"Aaaggh!"

Meanwhile somewhere else.

"You failed me Duskmon." GearDevimon said with a strange calm in his voice. "It seems that you weren't the warrior I expected you to be. But I'll give you a new chance."

"Thank you my lord." Duskmon kneeled in front of his master.

"We leave at dawn. Soon the masters will roam the world again and they will reward us with the Digital World!" GearDevimon laughed maniacally.

"Yes my lord, but there is one problem." Duskmon said holding out the remains of his blade. It had been reduced to a handle with a small bit of red steel protruding from it. Useless and beyond repair.

"Chose a new one, they have plenty!" GearDevimon yelled as he held out his arm to his army of shadow digimon. There must have been hundreds of them, all with a bloodthirsty look in their eyes. Yet there was a hint of sorrow in them as well.

* * *

Me so evil!

Okay people, i need some help. what weapon should Duskmon get now? I was thinking either an axe, a mace or a maul. You decide.

Reviews

Dragonfire411: thanks and I'll check out your story when you place it

Lord Pata: thanks and Duskmon's ultimate will probably show up in later chapters. didn't want to kill all the humans just yet.

GRX3m0m: thanks

Hakumei-chan: oh yeah? bring it on! 'laughs insanely'  
and yes, TK does have some problems with dark/evil digimon. maybe he should go and see Mimi's shrink

Angel of Courage and Kagami of the mirror: first of all: cool name. and second: they found out this chapter but he'll stay Duskmon for a while longer

Depthmon: thank you

Firehedgehog: 'laughes insanely'

Coppa-Cola: thanks you. i love a good plot twist in every story

Vigatus: maybe he will. find out on the next episode of spirits of destiny! same spirit channel, same spirit time!

Martiny: i love your reviews. 'turns around and runs away' don't kill me! don't worry Tai will have his happy ending. though i'm not sure about the others. 'gets hit with something'

anime25: thanks and i'm working on it as fast as i can (damn school, always keeping me from writing)

See you next time


	28. Again at the end of the map

Don't own so don't sue.

* * *

Spirits of destiny

Chapter 28

"Okay, everyone ready?" Joe said as he paced through Kari's living room. They had all decided to meet here.

"For crying out loud Joe. Yes! We're ready!" Matt nearly yelled at the recovering alcoholic.

"So everyone has enough food for a few days?"

"Anyone mind if I hit him?" Matt asked the others. "Nope!" was the unified answer.

"Not good." Joe said before running off.

Kari just looked as their replacement leader nearly hit their doctor. Matt was a good leader but he was nothing compared to Tai. Of course that didn't help them since Tai was now fighting for the other side.

But he'd be back soon. She'd see to that, even if she has to drag him home.

She yawned as she adjusted her backpack a bit.

"Didn't sleep well?" TK asked his 'girlfriend' as their relationship wasn't actually really serious. Not yet, they would get to that eventually.

"No, just kept thinking about Tai." She said as she held her hand to her mouth to cover her second yawn.

"Still worried about him?"

She nodded. Off course she was worried about Tai. And it didn't help that someone called about Tai's body, that they had dug up a few days ago. Apparently it was to be cremated and given to the family, to prevent further grave robbing incidents.

"Don't worry, he'll be fine." TK reassured her.

"Everyone! Ready your digivices, we're going digital!" Joe yelled out before Matt smacked him.

Everyone else took out their digivices and aimed them at the screen.

A bright flash and there was a huge pile of humans on the digital ground with a group of laughing digimon next to them.

"So this is it?" Izzy asked no one in particular as he stared at the huge chain of mountains. He could barely see the top from where they stood.

"This is it." A voice suddenly said, making all of them jump.

"Hey Gennai." Sora said as she recovered from the sudden scare. Gennai had left for the digital world the day before, to prepare for their arrival here.

"What's this place called?" Baromon asked as he looked up.

"The Chasms of Silence." Gennai said with a small hint of excitement in his voice. It had been quite some time since he had been here. Or at least on his own decision, not GearDevimon's.

"The Chasms of Silence? Weird name." Davis said as he turned to the old man.

"What did you expect? The cliffs of doom? The tops of chaos?" Gennai said as he rolled his eyes. Not that anyone saw this, since he hasn't opened them since the ordeal with GearDevimon.

"Something like that." Davis said before returning to his observation. Baromon nodded in agreement.

"Enough talking. We've got work to do." Matt said as he remembered why they were here.

"What's the easiest way to scale these cliffs?" Matt asked before grabbing a piece of rope.

"By flying over them." Gennai said dryly.

"Oh right." Matt said, blushing a bit.

"Okay, all flying digimon digivolve." Kari said, as she ran out of patience.

Moments later Garudamon, MegaKabuterimon and Halsemon were flying over the many tops that build up the Chasms of Silence.

As Kari looked down she realised why they were called so. If any of them were to fall right now they would fall to their death on either those stone spikes or they would just drop down into the rips between the tops and never be seen again.

"Hey Gennai!" Mimi yelled at Gennai. "How long till we get there?"

"That could take a while." Gennai yelled back from his Mecanorimon. He always brought the damn thing if there was any flying or climbing to do. After all he was an old man again.

"Great." Mimi murmured to herself as she grabbed a better hold of Garudamon's feathers. She did NOT want to know what would happen if she fell from this high.

About two hours of nothing more then seeing pointy rocks they arrived at a small cliff. It was large enough to hold all of them.

Gennai motioned everyone to land there.

"Okay, we're getting closer to the cave. But from now on we must travel by foot." Gennai said once everyone was on the cliff.

"What?!" Gomamon yelled out. "Are you expecting us to climb our way up there?" He pointed one claw up to one of the mountains. The surface was to steep to climb.

"Off course not." The old man chuckled as he pointed to a small path running through the mountains, hardly visible between all the grey stone.

"As you know these mountains house the key to the SoulStone. It wouldn't be good for anyone if every flying digimon was able to get there." Gennai pointed at the part of the chain of mountains that they had already passed.

"It's nearly impossible for non-flying digimon to pass these cliffs. I myself was forced to climb them when GearDevimon forced me to lead him there. I barely succeeded in doing so."

He then pointed at the part they still had to go.

"Over there the air currents are incredibly strong and would knock digimon as large as Garudamon down on to the cliffs." Biyomon gulped at that.

"I get it. Non-flying digimon can't even reach this far and flying digimon would be knocked out of the air if they continued from here." Izzy said as he added this information to his files on the digital world.

"Wait a minute. How did GearDevimon get here then?" Ken suddenly said. "You said that GearDevimon forced you to show you this place."

"Yeah I mean he's a flying digimon, so why wasn't he knocked out of the air?" Davis added.

"Geardevimon anticipated that such a 'trap' would be here, so he stuck close to the mountain tops. They would break his fall if he were to get knocked out of the air. It only happened once."

"Enough hanging around people and digimon. We need to get to the cave before GearDevimon finds us here." Matt said as he stood up again.

"That is if he hasn't beat us there." Jun said with a grim tone. She had always wanted to fight alongside the digidestined, but it was quite different from the stories Davis and Izzy would tell. This was the real thing.

"Relax Jun." Gigimon looked up to her partner. "We'll kick GearDevimon's ass, just like we said." Gigimon had apparently forgotten about the battle against Duskmon/Tai.

Jun cheered up a bit. "You're right. We'll kick his ass easily!" That echoed through the chasms, all the way to the entrance.

"So you're still sure about that, are you?!" GearDevimon's voice echoed back through the chain of mountains.

"Oh no!" TK yelled. "They're already at the entrance!" Patamon added.

"We need to get moving, and fast!" Kari said as the others nodded.

GearDevimon smirked. So the digidorks had beat him to the cave. Not that it would matter. Soon the key would be his and those 'heroes' would be wiped of the face of the world.

"Onward!" He yelled, signalling the flying digimon to advance towards the cliffs where the digidestined were at the moment. Of course the humans would make it to the cave before they arrived at those cliffs. They would probably try to defend it there.

'Foolish creatures. Thinking that they can withstand my power.'

A few large dragon-like creatures flew towards the cliffs. It would take them a few hours to get there, and then they would still need to climb the rest of the way.

"Duskmon, I hope that you're ready this time. This time you will destroy them or else I will destroy you.!" He screamed at one of the passengers of the dragons.

"Duskmon nodded silently as he toyed with his new weapon. It was a mace, one he had taken from an oni-like digimon. It was made from a dark and strong steel. The head was covered in viciously sharp spikes. Just one strike with this weapon would be enough to crack open a human's skull.

But yet he didn't know if he was going to be able to do it. The damn voice was trying to talk him out of it and his mind was constantly bombarded by memories. Memories of a place he couldn't remember where it was, yet it felt like home. People whose name he couldn't remember, yet they felt like family to him.

His head hurt from all those memories.

And then there was the girl. One insignificant human girl had stopped him in his tracks because of one word. Why?

"Why?!" He screamed and smashed his new weapon down on one of the many horns the dragon creature had.

The mace easily fractured the bone-like appendage. The dragon didn't seem to notice or just didn't care about it.

"I will find out who they are. Who she is." He said before kicking the broken horn off of the dragon and into the abyss.

* * *

"Hurry up!" Kari said as she pulled Mimi up. The pink-loving girl had nearly lost her grip when a rock broke off. If it weren't for Palmon, who was strapped to Mimi's back, she would have fallen down, never to be seen again. Angewomon had dropped Kari off to help the other girl up. 

"Kari! Relax. It's not good for you to get so stressed out." TK said as he laid his hands on her shoulders.

"I know, I know but if we don't hurry GearDevimon is bound to catch up with us. If we were to fight here we'd just be knocked down into the chasms."

"I know but we're almost there. Gennai said it's just over that cliff." TK said as he pointed at a rather jagged looking top.

Angewomon managed to carry Kari to the other side. Luckily she stuck close to the sides, else they would have been swiped away by the strong gusts of wind. Interesting though was the fact that if you stuck to the sides of the mountain tops you didn't even feel the wind.

Eventually they arrived at the entrance. The cliff where the cave was located was rather large, as if those who carved it knew that one day a battle would occur to prevent evil from entering it. Even the strong gusts of wind were absent from this place.

Angewomon and MagnaAngemon went back to help those who couldn't climb very good.

Kari would have marvelled at the entrance to the cave, if it weren't for the fact that she was dead tired. At first she had tried to scale the mountains herself but she hardly knew anything about it, unlike Joe, Matt and surprisingly Mimi.

Izzy however, once he landed, was fascinated by the many marking surrounding the entrance but refrained from entering it till Gennai arrived. Instead he began doing an attempt at decrypting the symbols.

"This is just to much…" Izzy said as he took pictures of each symbol carved next to the entrance.

"What do you mean? These are just normal words." Tentomon said as he took a look as well.

"For you maybe but to me this is like finding the Holy Grail." Izzy said while adding his newly taken pictures to the rest.

"Is that edible?" Tentomon asked rather confused about whatever a Holy Grail was.

"Not really." Izzy said without taking his eyes off of the wall.

"Having fun?" Gennai asked once MagnaAngemon dropped him next to Izzy. All the others had arrived as well.

Izzy nodded.

"There's even more of these writings inside. I'll translate them for you once this ordeal is over." Gennai said with a smile on his face.

"Let's get this over with then!" Izzy yelled before heading inside.

Everyone followed the redhead and the old man. As Gennai had told them the walls had even more symbols on them.

Eventually they came into a huge room. It looked as if it was large enough to hold a Machinedramon in it. Though he wouldn't be able to move around all that much. Luckily they left Koromon at home.

"Is this it?" Kari asked as she walked up to the door. "It's huge."

"That is indeed the only door standing between GearDevimon and the key." Gennai said as he looked at the masterpiece. He himself had worked on it along with many other digital humans but that was a long time ago.

"Don't forget about us!" Davis yelled. "We'll prevent GearDevimon and Tai from even coming near this door."

"And even if they get here, there's still that guardian you talked about." Cody added.

Gennai smiled at the passion all these humans and their digimon possessed. Maybe all would end up okay after all.

An hour later everyone was rested and everyone, especially the digimon, had had enough to eat. They were fully energized and ready to fight.

"Okay, here's the plan." Matt started. "The big digimon, by which I mean Garudamon, MegaKabuterimon, Imperialdramon and Zudomon, stay outside. Halsemon should stay there as well, since he's more useful in the air."

The digimon and the partners of those digimon nodded.

"They should be able to defend this place for quite some time. Now the 'small' digimon stay inside to protect the door from Tai and GearDevimon."

All the others nodded at this, except for Jun who was a bit disappointed that she wouldn't be able to fight by her boyfriends side.

"Watch your backs and each others back as well." Matt finished. He didn't want to lose anyone today.

"Oh and before I forget." Gennai suddenly said. "Take these." He handed everyone a small red stone. "These should protect you against GearDevimon's attacks."

"Stylish." Palmon said as she placed the red stone on her leaves.

"How long do you think we have till they get here?" Kari asked.

"Don't know for sure but we probably have at least half an hour." Gennai said.

"Okay then everyone take your positions." Matt said as if he were a commander commanding his troops.

"Aye-aye captain!" Davis joked before heading outside along with Veemon, Ken and Wormmon.

Yolei, Joe, Izzy and their digimon followed.

"Sora?" Matt asked as she headed outside as well. "I know that I'm sounding rather dramatic but …" Matt didn't know how to continue his sentence. He didn't want to lose her but he knew that there was a chance that not all of them would live to see another day.

"I know what you're trying to say." Sora said as she wrapped her arms around the lone wolf.

They stood there for what felt like ages.

"Don't you dare dying, okay?" Matt said with a grim smile on his face.

"The same for you. If you dare to die here, I swear I'll kill you."

They shared a quick kiss and Sora headed outside.

"Ah l'amour." Gabumon said with a fake French accent.

"Shut it." Matt responded.

Outside everyone was on edge. The cliff outside was now easily supporting the huge digimon. The humans stood next to their digimon as they saw an army of Shadow digimon approach over the mountain tops.

"You know, at moments like these I wish I brought some sake with me." Joe said. "But then I remember what Zudomon can do with that hammer of his."

"You just have to face up to your demons Joe. Everyone has to." Sora said.

"Yeah but in our case our demons are huge fire-breathing dragons or bony lizards with missiles strapped to their backs." Izzy continued.

"We don't know if we'll live to save the world again." Ken said as the first Shadow digimon jumped onto the cliff.

"But there's only one way to find out!" Davis yelled.

"Positron Laser!"

* * *

Yes I am stopping the story at this moment. I told you I was evil. 

Reviews

Vigatus: He will, next chapter probably.

Depthmon: Let me guess: to much sugar? And yes it's michi though it's only a small part of the story, given the fact that I'm not good at writing romantic stuff.

Hakumei-chan: 'Clears throat' You asked for it. 'Laughs maniacally, causing little children to run crying to their mothers.' (actually happened once) And don't worry, I update every week or twice if I have enough inspiration. It's only a bit harder with school and stuff.

Lord Pata: Thanks and it wouldn't do my story any good if Duskmon killed the digidestined this quickly ;) And I had this weird vision of Imperialdramon inside a freezer. So I put it in the story. And I made Baromon dance the Macarena because I couldn't think of any other dances. 'Runs of doing the macarena'

Firehedgehog: Thank you and I changed it so anon. readers can review now. I really didn't know it was switched off

graypheonix: Yup, he'll probably show up sooner or later. And I'm still working on his combined form but it's a secret.

Martiny: Thanks for chosing the mace and Tai will be free sooner or later. So please keep Davis on a leash so he won't kill me.

Coppa-Cola: Thanks and I just love Jack Sparrow so I decided to put in some lines from the movie, savvy?

Angel of Courage and Kagami of the Mirror: Don't worry Tai will be free soon. Thanks for reviewing!

HotrodFlashingKnightOfLight: I did.

Thanks and see you next time!


	29. Freedom at a price

Don't own so don't sue.

* * *

Spirits of destiny

Chapter 29

A scream was heard from the Shadow digimon. They could hear it all the way into the cave.

Matt nervously rolled Tai's Soulstone around in his hands. Gennai had given it to him for safekeeping's. He had also mentioned something about 'using it when the time was right.'

He thought about everything that could go wrong today. It had been quite some time since they last fought a battle like this. They were out of shape.

And two worlds relied on them. So they would do their best. And they would triumph over evil as always. Or at least he hoped so.

Another explosion sounded through the cave. Their friends were fighting outside to prevent Duskmon or GearDevimon from entering the cave but he knew that they couldn't hold them back for long.

The only way they would survive this was if they managed to turn Tai back to their side and destroy GearDevimon.

"Matt!" Sora's voice suddenly echoed throughout the cave. "They're coming in!"

This made Matt snap out of his thoughts and back to reality. The Shadow digimon had already breached their first defences. If they survived this he was going to make everyone train for situations like these.

Luckily the first wave only consisted of three ShadowOgremons. One blast from both MagnaAngemon and Angewomon knocked them out.

"Well MetalGarurumon. This is it." He said to his partner as he heard more digimon running into the cave.

"Metal Wolf Claw!"

Meanwhile outside the battle was raging on. Zudomon and all the others were doing there best to prevent the Shadow digimon from entering the cave but there were to many. They would knock down several possessed digimon but they would just get up again. their only way to defeat them was to either delete them, or throw them off the cliff.

Tough call.

They decided that for the greater good of this world they would have to bury their principles and delete them. After all they would be reformatted anyway. So they should be fine.

Zudomon slammed his hammer down on a smaller ultimate digimon and knocked him off of the cliff. He heard him screaming all the way down but forced his mind back to the battle.

"You all amuse so much." GearDevimon smirked as he arrived at the battleground. "You claim to be the good guys, yet you delete innocent digimon."

"We may be doing so." Joe said. "But at least then those digimon will still have a world to be reborn into."

"So the end justifies the means?" GearDevimon laughed as the blue-haired teen clenched his fists.

"Oh well I'm getting tired of playing around with you little fools." GearDevimon yawned for effect.

He jumped to the cliff and soared at a low height towards Zudomon. "Remember me?" GearDevimon raised his hand and screamed: "Shadow Possesion!"

The darkness just bounced off of Zudomon and faded away.

GearDevimon looked in horror.

"Yes I do remember you." Zudomon grinned as he brought down his hammer, right on the location where GearDevimon stood one millisecond ago.

"How are you able to withstand my attacks?!" GearDevimon uttered, his voice full of disbelief.

"Like we're going to tell you!" Imperialdramon yelled before kicking another Shadow digimon. This one luckily only lost consciousness.

"Very well then. If I can't control you then I will destroy you!" GearDevimon screamed.

With a wave of his hand more troops came marching onto the cliff.

"Duskmon! You are coming with me. We're going to get the key while these digidorks die fighting my army."

Duskmon nodded but didn't remember why he was even following this guy's orders. GearDevimon was obviously weaker then him, so why wasn't he giving out the orders.

'**Okay so now we're getting somewhere.'** An all to familiar voice in his head suddenly said.

'You again? Why do you keep talking to me?' Duskmon responded as he followed GearDevimon into the cave.

'**Don't know, why do you keep following HIS orders?'**

'Good point.'

"Hello little digidestined!" GearDevimon yelled as the duo arrived at the door.

"GearDevimon! Let my brother go!" Kari yelled as she saw the six-winged menace.

"How about… NO!" GearDevimon screamed before laughing maniacally.

'Brother? But she's a human. How can GearDevimon control a human.'

'**Easily, he controls you.'**

'What? I'm not human.'

'**Sure you're not. The first few weeks you refused to accept that you are a digimon and now you deny that you were a human. Remember Tai. Remember.'**

The voice fell silent again. 'Who the hell is Tai?' Duskmon asked himself as GearDevimon continued to taunt the humans.

"Duskmon! Open the gate! Now!" GearDevimon screamed.

Duskmon did as he was told and walked over to the gate.

"Oh no you won't!" Matt yelled.

"Giga Missile!" A rocket was launched out of MetalGarurumon's chest and was now on his way towards Duskmon.

The champion just dodged it and continued his way towards the gate.

"Celestial Arrow!" Angewomon fired an arrow at him which he merely swiped out of the air with his mace.

"Gate of Destin-" MagnaAngemon's attack was interrupted as Duskmon introduced his mace to MagnaAngemon's head. That strike had enough power to crush a human skull.

Luckily for him he wasn't human.

"MagnaAngemon!" Angewomon yelled as the angel fell out of the air. She just managed to catch him.

He was unconscious after that strike but he would be fine after some rest.

"You…You will pay for this!" She yelled. Not at Duskmon but at GearDevimon.

'Why is she screaming at him, not me? I knocked Cupid out of the sky. I'm the one she should be furious at.'

'**She can't be mad at you because she knows that GearDevimon controls you. Can't you remember her? She's like a sister to you.'**

'That's impossible. Digimon don't have siblings.'

But then there were those memories. The little girl with brown hair. The same girl, but older, that stood there next to the angel.

What if he really was human?

'**We're making progress.'**

Duskmon still continued his march towards the door.

But he was stopped by someone.

Not a digimon, not Geardevimon, not the voice in his head.

A girl.

The same girl that stopped him from killing the digidestined.

A name began to form in his mind.

Something starting with the letter M.

"Please Tai, snap out of it." She pleaded.

There's that name again. 'Tai. And I know her name… it's…'

"Mimi…" His voice was silent but everyone heard it.

GearDevimon, who had been avoiding the many attacks launched at him, heard it as well. He could feel his grip on his warrior of darkness slip away.

"Tai…" Mimi said softly as a single tear glistened in her eyes.

"Shadow Possession!" GearDevimon jumped out of the shadows. His attack forced new energy into his leash on the former digidestined's mind.

"No! No, not again!" Mimi yelled as Duskmon's eyes turned a deep purple colour. She had been so close and now she had lost him again.

Lilymon had to rescue her partner because Duskmon took a swipe at her with his mace. Luckily for her Lilymon had been watching the entire time.

"Now Duskmon! Destroy them and open the gate!"

Duskmon's entire body began to glow with a purple light.

"**Duskmon digivolves to…"**

His entire body was now a swirling mass of purple light. Slowly the human-like features were ripped apart, leaving the silhouette of a bird-like creature.

"**Velgemon!"**

The newly formed creature spread his wings and took to the skies. The fact that he was stuck inside of a cave didn't bother him.

"Velgemon! Open the gate!" GearDevimon screamed for what felt like the millionth time (even though it was only the third or fourth time.)

Velgemon swooped down and towards the gate.

"Giga Missile!" MetalGarurumon fired another missile at the bird, who just dodged it. The missile impacted on the wall, which was now covered in ice.

'**Damn! Tai fight it!' **Tai's batter half all but yelled.

No answer.

"Dark obliteration!" Velgemon flew towards the gate. He used his wing to burn a circle around the door.

"This can't be good." Gennai muttered as he fought off a Shadow digimon.

The stone burned under Velgemon's touch and soon the circle was complete.

A flash of light and…

Nothing.

The door still stood strong.

Or so it seemed.

The door then began to glow the same purple colour as Duskmon did earlier. Slowly the enire door began to crack under the power the darkness gained from Velgemon. The harmony was broken as the darkness grew stronger. The symbol of darkness glowed and those surrounding began to break apart.

"No!" Matt yelled. "MetalGarurumon! Do something!"

"Metal Wolf Claw!" A blast of ice hit Velgemon in the back. But it was to late. The downed ultimate fell to MetalGarurumon's attack in front of an open gate. One that should never have been opened again.

"It's game over for you humans." GearDevimon laughed as he pushed Gennai away and into a wall. He may have lost all of his original attacks but he was still strong enough to kick the old man's ass, Mekanorimon included.

As more Shadow digimon entered the cave GearDevimon was walking calmly towards the now open gate.

"You have served your purpose Velgemon." GearDevimon laughed as he stepped over the ultimate. "You would have been a fine slave but you're just to stubborn."

Kari saw how GearDevimon released Tai from his control.

The darkness that was clouding his mind and at once Tai remembered who he was, who that girl was and who he had called his master. He sneered as he remembered who he served the last few days.

GearDevimon kicked Tai, who was now glowing. He returned back to Lowemon but was now lying on his back as GearDevimon kicked him again.

"Hang on Tai!" Lilymon yelled before firing a "Flower cannon!"

GearDevimon just ordered one of his canon fodder to take the hit. He didn't even blink twice as the digimon faded away.

"Now Tai, you appear to be the only one that has enough power to defeat me. It's in my best interests if I took that power from you!"

GearDevimon reached out to Tai.

Tai felt a part of him being pulled away. The darkness in his core was being ripped from him.

"There we go." GearDevimon said nonchalantly, as if nothing happened. He held an orb the size of a football in his hands. It pulsed with dark energy. Slowly GearDevimon brought it to his chest and absorbed it.

In doing so he grew stronger then he had ever been. His wings lengthened and he grew a new set of horns on his forehead. A jagged spear appeared in his hand.

"Interesting." GearDevimon said as he took a look at his new weapon. "Let's find out how sharp it is!"

He brought it down on Tai but before he could pierce Tai's fading armor he was blasted by someone. He looked up to see Baromon standing there. He did another dance to summon a meteor out of thin air and struck the devil-digimon with it.

"Oh right, you guys are still here." He said as Angewomon and Growlmon came towards him.

"Let me kick his ass! Come on, I've been waiting for so long!" Growlmon said enthusiastically.

"No he's mine." Angewomon hissed. She was furious. First this sick excuse for a digimon had kidnapped her brother, then he forced him to fight MagnaAngemon and now he had drained her brother of his energy.

He would pay!!

"Heaven's charm!" A cross of light was send towards GearDevimon, who just struck it with his new spear, dissipating it in the process.

"You know, I'd love to stay but I have a busy schedule. So bye!" GearDevimon turned around and flew towards the now open gate and towards the key.

"Tai! Hang on Tai!" Angewomon nearly screamed as she ignored GearDevimon heading for the key. Right now Tai was her main concern. She'd crush GearDevimon's skull another time.

She easily picked Tai up and headed to Gennai. He was probably the only one that could save him.

"Gennai help him. Please."

Gennai's eyes shot open as he saw what had happened to Tai: his body was starting to fade away.

Kari gasped as she saw what had happened to her big brother.

"Tai? Please Taichi, answer me." Tears rolled down her cheeks as she knelt down next to him.

Gennai studied Tai's body. "What has happened to him?"

"Geardevimon released him and then he…he…he drained Tai of darkness." Angewomon sobbed.

"Then there is little to nothing I can do for him." Gennai said with a grim tone as Tai slowly shut his eyes.

"What? What do you mean, you can't help him?!" Mimi screamed hysterically at the old man, making him cower in fear of the brown-haired girl's vengeance.

"I mean that his darkness has been drained from him. I told you that I made him a digital body but that his soul refused to be bound to it. Thanks to AncientSphinxmon's sacrifice Tai was able to live again but now…"

"His soul has no reason to stay in the body…" Kari finished.

"But can't we make AncientSphinxmon give him some more of his power?"

"Impossible. AncientSphinxmon has already sacrificed forty percent of his strength, he won't want to give another twenty percent away. And even if he was willing to do so, he's at Infinity Mountain. We'll never reach him in time."

"So you're just letting him die?" Baromon sneered.

"I'm not saying that. It's just impossible to rescue him now." Gennai said with a stern look on his face.

Everyone just looked down onto the fading form of their once proud leader.

"However…" He suddenly said. "There might just be an answer to this problem. But we have to be quick."

"Hurry up!" Gennai said as he jumped into his Mekanorimon again.

"We'll stay here to protect Tai!" Matt said and pointed at himself and Jun.

"I'll stay too. I don't want to leave him alone." Mimi said with a soft voice. Her and Kari's eyes met for a second.

Kari nodded. "Let's go then." She, TK, Angewomon, MagnaAngemon and Baromon headed after Gennai, who entered through the gates Tai had opened.

"Ah, so this is what victory feels like." GearDevimon laughed to himself as he paced through the hall.

"Sweet, sweet victory!"

He eventually arrived at a room. It was smaller then the cave where the gate stood but it was covered in ancient writings as well. They spoke of tales, of secrets. They told they story of the Digital World snce the first bit of Binary code.

But those tales held no interest for him.

He wanted one thing.

And there it was: a key. THE key. The key that would set his master free to reign over this world. And then he would be rewarded.

His face curled into a wicked smile.

There wasn't any sign of a guardian of sorts. The only things there were altar with the key, a pile of rusted armor in one corner of the room and a circle of ten crystals embedded into the floor in front of the key.

"Hello? Anyone here? I'm taking your key and then I will unleash evil onto this world!" He mockingly said as he walked towards the altar holding the key.

"Apparently Gennai was a bit off on his information."

But as soon as GearDevimon took another step towards the key, the crystals infront of it began to glow. Each of them a different colour.

"What the hell?" He snarled as he took a step back.

The crystals all released a blast of coloured light. All of them combined into a humanlike silhouette of energy. The rusted pieces of armor sprung to live. A flash of light and they were good as new, coloured in red, gold and blue tints

The pieces of armor merged with the energy, forming a new warrior.

"Fire, Wind, Ice, Water, Wood, Steel, Earth, Thunder, Light and Darkness!"

The figure yelled as his helmet was placed n his head by an invisible force.

"I am Susanoomon!"

* * *

What? I just needed an excuse to get him into the story.  
Woo-hoo! Two updates in two days! I'm on fire! 'Sees smoke coming from hair' And this story has passed the 200 reviews thingy! Hooray! lets dance! 

And don't worry to much about Tai. He'll live. So put the pointy and painfull things away.

Reviews

Mariny the one and only: I thanked you for the mace. I like maces. And Tai smashed someone's skull with it, though no humans

Firehedgehog: Thr final battle is coming but not today.

Lord Pata: Thanks, I love to put in those silly little things. It spices things up a bit, though there isn't any of that in this chapter (just couldn't fit anything in.)

Fruitloop Trooper: Thanks

Hakumei-chan: 'Laughs so evil that the universe collapses'

Depthmon: I know the feeling. There's nothing like a good sugar rush.

anime25: I just get a lot of inspiration (like today) plus I love to write. And I don't know how much chapters there are going to be. Probably round forty.

Beth: Thanks about reviewing and about the anonymous thing: I just figured out that I had turned that off. And about GearDevimon and the SoulStone: He would just resist its power. The Soulstone removes energy that shoudn't be in digimons bodies example: the Shadow Digimon. It can also pull darkness out of weaker digimon like Vilemon in the beginning.

Vigatus: He's rebelling this chapter (hooray!)

GRX3m0m: Thank you

Angel of Courage and Kagami of the Mirror: Thanks and I will try to keep it exciting

Smoochynose: Glad you like it and I've thougt about being an auther and tried to write a book but I have to much trouble with creating good characters. Maybe one day I wil write an original story...

R&R people!


	30. The end of all hope

Don't own so don't sue.

* * *

Spirits of destiny

Chapter 30

"I am Susanoomon!"

"Okay so maybe Gennai wasn't off about this." GearDevimon snarled as he took a step back.

GearDevimon whirled his spear around and slammed it into the warrior as the guardian charged the corrupted ultimate. But the spear just bounced off of his armor.

Susanoomon grinned and slammed his fist into GearDevimon's stomach, sending him flying to the passage he just came through.

He stood back up as he heard footsteps coming closer. "Those damn children and this old sentinel will not keep me from my victory."

Quickly he charged into the key-room again.

'If you can't beat them, make them join you!' He thought as he faded into the shadows. Susanoomon jerked his head in every possible direction to see where the intruder had gone.

"Shadow Possession!" He screamed as he jumped out of the shadows again. He stuck to Susanoomon's back as he allowed the darkness to spread through Susanoomon's body.

"Now Susanoomon, would you be so kind as to hand me the key?" GearDevimon said as he floated down to the floor again.

"I don't take orders from you!" Susanoomon yelled before bringing his fist down on GearDevimon's face.

"How could it not have worked? No digimon can withstand my power." GearDevimon said with a rasping voice.

"I'm not like other digimon." Susanoomon said as he picked up GearDevimon by the neck and flung him across the room.

He hissed as his back came in contact with the wall. Even with the power he absorbed from Tai he wasn't strong enough to defeat this thing.

If he couldn't control it and couldn't defeat it, then there was only one solution: taking the key and run like hell.

"GearDevimon!" A girl yelled as she, Gennai, another human and their digimon entered.

"Oh how nice of you to join the party." GearDevimon said as he used his spear to support himself.

"Give Tai's energy back! Now!" Angewomon yelled as she aimed an arrow of light at him.

"How do they say this again? Oh right: No!" GearDevimon smirked, even though he was obviously in pain.

"Then we'll rip it from you!" MagnaAngemon said as he drew his blade.

"Bold words angel." GearDevimon said before fading into the shadows again.

"Where is he?" Susanoomon asked, nearly oblivious to the newcomers.

"He does that all the time. Just look for his eyes." Kari said.

"Thanks for the hint." Susanoomon said. He had finally noticed them. "This may not be the best of times but who are you?"

"That's Kari and TK, they're part of the digidestined." Gennai said while continuing to search for two glowing eyes in the darkness.

"Gennai!" Susanoomon exclaimed. "It's been a long time, hasn't it?"

"It has been but we'll catch up later, first we need to get rid of GearDevimon."

They all looked around, not noticing two red eyes heading towards the altar, until it was to late.

"Over there!" TK suddenly yelled.

"You're to late little TK." GearDevimon mocked as he materialised and took the key, which looked like a rather strange-shaped shard of crystal. "It's mine now."

"Hell no!" Susanoomon yelled as he drew his own sword. With one quick hurl the sword was thrown through the air towards its target.

"Aaaaaaaargggghh!" GearDevimon screamed as the sword pierced one of his six wings. He nearly dropped the key if it weren't clenched in his bony hands

"My wing!" He yelled hysterically as he did desperate attempts to pull out the sword. But it was no use: the sword was stuck in the wall and in this position he wouldn't be able to pull it out.

"Hah! Face it GearDevimon, you lost!" Baromon said before doing a victory dance.

"Not yet." GearDevimon smirked.

Slowly he began to move away from his wing. He used the rocks in the wall to pull himself away from the sword.

"Oh god no." Kari whispered as she turned away just in time to hear the wing rip apart.

GearDevimon's scream was heard throughout the cave.

"Game over for you." GearDevimon said before fading away, leaving the remains of his wing behind.

"No! Block his way out!" Susanoomon yelled. But it was to late.

GearDevimon's cackle was heard in the hall.

They quickly gave chase but GearDevimon was gone. His army began to retreat.

He had won.

They could never find him between all those digimon and they were to tired to start fighting all of them.

"It's over." Kari sobbed as GearDevimon's army was out of sight. "He's gone with the key and with Tai's energy."

She cried. She was going to lose her brother again and if they didn't prevent GearDevimon from unleashing the SoulStone prison she would lose everything. Her family, her friends, her world.

"Everyone! Get back inside, Gennai has something to say to us." Matt said with a broken tone of voice.

All of them went back inside.

They hadn't suffered many losses. All the digimon were okay, except for a few minor wounds. But off course all of them were exhausted. Nothing a good night's sleep couldn't fix.

But there fighting spirit was down and out.

Tai was dying at the moment and there was nothing they could do.

GearDevimon got away and there was nothing they could have done about it.

Mimi still sat in the same place as before. Still clenching Tai's body. She refused to let go. Not this time.

Susanoomon stared at the sword in his hand and the piece of wing GearDevimon had left behind. Slowly it faded away in digital dust.

He had failed. His only purpose in his new life and he had failed.

Gennai walked up to him. "I know that you feel miserable about this but we need your help."

Susanoomon looked down at the old man. "Tell me, what can I do?"

"There is only one way to prevent GearDevimon from opening the prison." Gennai said seriously.

"But we need him. He is the only one capable of leading us to victory." Gennai said as he pointed at Tai's fading body. "He's like you actually."

MagnaAngemon had been able to keep Tai alive a bit longer by a huge dose of "Magna Antidote." But its effects started to drain away. Tai didn't have much longer to live.

"How can I help him?" Susanoomon said quietly.

"You have twenty percent of each Ancient's power. The Ancients gave us that power and we gave it form: you."

Susanoomon nodded.

"Taichi Kamiya, leader of the digidestined. He was given part of AncientSphinxmon's strength, so he could live." Gennai continued.

Susanoomon quickly figured out where this was heading.

"So you want me to give up my power of darkness?" Gennai nodded.

"I would do that but by doing so I would destroy myself. If the darkness disappears from my body the light will take over. The harmony would be disrupted."

"I forgot about that part. Then there's nothing we can do." Gennai said softly as a single tear formed in his closed eyes.

"You sure about him?" Susanoomon asked as he took a better look at the fading digimon.

Gennai smiled grimly "You know that I'm always right Osa-." .

"Don't call me that. It hasn't been my name for a long time." Susanoomon cut him off. There was a glint of anger in his eyes. "But if you're really sure that he's the one I might be able to help him."

Gennai's face cleared up a bit as he heard him say that.

Meanwhile with the humans.

They all stood around Tai and Mimi. Mimi still refused to let go off Tai.

"It's almost as if he's asleep." Kari said softly as TK held her tight. Salamon sat next to Tai. "Please, not again." She sobbed. Family was the most important thing in the world for her and now she was going to lose part of it. Again.

The others stood a bit farther away from them. They all had their own thoughts about this. Some hoped that Tai would finally find peace now, others hoped that some miracle would happen.

But everyone shared the feelings of sorrow as their leader, their friend, their brother faded away from existence.

"Farewell Tai." Matt sighed as he pulled Sora a bit closer to him.

"It's not over yet." Gennai said.

"What do you mean?" Kari asked. "GearDevimon got away and it's impossible to get to AncientSphinxmon."

Gennai nodded. "I know but there is another way." He pointed at Susanoomon.

"Who is he?" Joe asked. He had seen him chase after GearDevimon but didn't know anything about him.

"I am Susanoomon, former guardian of the key." He said with a hint of sadness in his voice.

"So you're the guardian Gennai talked about." Tentomon said as he flew in for a closer look.

"Indeed but I have failed. But there is a way I can prevent this 'GearDevimon' from destroying this world."

"Tell us then." Kari said as she let go off TK and ran over to Susanoomon. "How can you help Tai?"

"Like Tai, Susanoomon here is created from the power of the Ancients. But he has the power of all ten Ancient Warriors. Including the Ancient of Darkness." Gennai said.

"So you can give Tai his energy back?" Mimi asked hopefully.

"In a way, but we must hurry." Susanoomon said.

He quickly moved over to Tai's fading body. Mimi reluctantly let go of him. Susanoomon took a good look at him. He looked very young. You could see through out his body as the colour had entirely faded from him.

"I hope this works." He said as he reached to his own chest. He slowly pulled out an orb of energy out. It looked just like the one GearDevimon ripped from Tai.

Susanoomon felt how his own strength being reduced by this sacrifice but it had to be done. If this world and the other was to continue to exist he had to. Even if it killed him.

Slowly he pushed the orb into Tai's chest.

Everyone held their breath for a second as if they were expecting Tai to stand up immediately.

But that didn't happen.

Tai was still lying there, motionless, lifeless.

"Did it work?" Kari asked hesitantly.

"I don't know." Susanoomon said as he took a step back.

"I hope it did. Else we might not survive this time." Gennai said darkly.

"Come on Tai." Mimi started. "Don't leave us now."

"I think that it may have been too late." Ken said. Susanoomon quickly turned his head towards the voice.

"I didn't know you were a quitter Ken." Susanoomon said in a soft voice before mentally slapping himself for saying that.

"How do you know my name?" Ken said suspiciously as Susanoomon mentally slapped himself.

"Eh I heard it before. You used to be the Digimon Emperor, right?" Susanoomon quickly recovered.

"I was." Ken said grimly as he looked down. "Darkest period in my life actually."

Susanoomon decided not to go on and turned back to Tai. He was still transparent.

"Why isn't it working?" Kari asked as she looked away from her brother. The others all did the same, they couldn't bare to see their leader like this. All of them moved towards the exit. They all needed some fresh air as they tried to process the fact that they would never see Tai again.

"I fear that Ken may have been right. Maybe we were to late." Gennai said with a sad voice as he followed the group towards the exit.

"So it's over now." Joe said reluctantly as he stared at the moon in the sky. they had fought for a long time, even though it only felt like twenty minute. "Oh well, at least now I won't have to explain where I was today. In a week there won't even be a med school."

"We're not giving up." Matt said with a stern voice. "We may have lost Tai but that doesn't mean that we should just surrender to GearDevimon. We can still fight back or at least give them hell! Who's with me?"

No reaction. All of them still wanted to fight but their spirits had been crushed.

"I am."

Everyone turned around.

Tai stood there with his mace in hand.

"Taichi?" Kari asked, not believing her eyes. "You're alive! You're alive!" She yelled before running back to him. She quickly pulled her armoured brother in a hug as he dropped his mace again. "Don't you ever to that again."

"What did I do?" Tai asked. "You nearly died again." She said as tears filled her eyes again.

"How many times has it been now?" Tai said with a grin on his face. "Eh Kari, you can let go now."

"No." She said with a smile on her face.

"Okay then. Can someone tell me what the hell happened. I vaguely remember something about calling GearDevimon my lord and stuff."

Everyone stared at him with open mouth.

"He's alright!" Baromon screamed before jumping up and down. Salamon did the same. The two of them looked rather foolish but they couldn't care less.

"You gave us quite the scare." Davis said. "But as I said before, you're to stubborn to die."

"Damn straight!" Tai said. "I can't die yet. I still have to kick Geardevimon's ass. I assume he has the key now?"

Sora nodded softly, a bit down because GearDevimon got away but happy to see that her friend was among the living once more.

"That's not the only thing he took. He took your energy as well." Gennai said. "That energy was pure darkness, it was the only thing that kept you bound to your body."

"Then how come I'm still walking around?" Tai asked a bit confused as Kari finally let go of him.

"Thanks to Captain Planet over there." Jun said with her 'I don't really care' voice. She pointed at Susanoomon.

"Captain Planet rules, so back off." Susanoomon said a bit angry.

"You saved me?" Tai asked. "And you know who Captain Planet is?"

Susanoomon gulped. "Yes I saved you. I sacrificed part of my own power to save you." He decided not to answer his other question.

"Thank you for saving my brother." Kari said as she walked up to him.

"I had to if we were to save the worlds." Susanoomon said as if that was the most normal thing in the world.

"Still, I'm grateful for saving him."

"So what's our plan of action?" Tai asked in a serious tone again.

"We chase after GearDevimon, kick his ass and go home." Matt replied.

"You're crazy. We're exhausted." Gabumon pitched in before suppressing a yawn.

"Yeah if we chase him now, we'll be the ones that get our ass kicked." Gomamon added.

"Speaking off fighting, where is Koromon?" Tai asked.

"Back home, we left him there, else we would have to look after him as well." Kari replied.

"Okay, we'll need to pick him up then before we head out to war." The warrior of darkness said before turning to Gennai. "Can you send me back to the human world?"

The old man nodded. "But I'll need some time."

"We don't have any time." Cody said as he paced around nervously.

"I don't need long, about five minutes."

Mimi had been quiet all this time. Tai had survived. He wasn't dead.

As Gennai tweaked Izzy's laptop Tai walked up to her. "Are you okay?"  
"I could ask you the same thing." She said with a weak smile.

Tears suddenly flowed as he took hold of Tai. "Don't ever do that again. don't ever leave me again." She sobbed.

Tai wrapped his arms around her as he held her close.

* * *

Happy now? He's alive (for now) and GearDevimon is going to destroy the world. Everyone's happy! And I don't own Captain Planet (but for some reason Susanoomon reminds me of him) 

By the way, check out my new story: Digital Devil Saga. It's about how Tai ended up in the Junkyard instead of the real world (read summary for more info)

reviews

Angel of Courage and Kagami of the Mirror: Glad you liked it.

Mariny the one and only: He's fine! Please call Davis back!

Beth: They will not appear in this story.

Graypheonix: He'll die soon but not at the hands of Susanoomon 'smiles evilly'

Lord Pata: Okay put down the weapons and step away slowly. Lol. And keep that fork away from me! I don't like pointy stuff.

Firehedgehog: I know ;)

Depthmon: I tried to make it that way. That the 'myths' from 04 would be told in the 02 world.

Hakumei-chan: 'laughs as well' yup!

Coppa-Cola: I've been trying to get him in for some time now. At first I was going to make Tai turn into Susanoomon to fight the final battle. but then I thought: nah, let's make it something original. And about the swords thing: I thought he had only one and MetalGarurumon shattered it so I gave him a mace instead.

GRX3m0m: Thanks

Vigatus: Don't worry, Matt will have another chance soon 'Hint-hint' And about the Tai-soul thingy. I just needed an excuse to kill Tai some more ;)

anime25: I'm not going to kill him (yet) but I will make him suffer before the end (yay!)

thank you and R&R please


	31. Never say goodbye

Don't own so don't sue.

* * *

Spirits of destiny

Chapter 31

"Everyone, may I have your attention please?" Gennai started. They were still in the cave where GearDevimon had stolen the key. It was dark outside and it would have been pure suicide if they tried to climb down now.

"Okay, as you know GearDevimon has the key. It won't be long before he released all the evil trapped inside the SoulStone."

Everyone looked down a bit, especially Susanoomon.

"But we probably have some time left, possibly a day or two. He won't immediately release them. He'll try to taunt us, to make us come to the crystal and THEN he will open it." Gennai continued.

"Are you sure about this? What if he rushes over there now?" Ken asked while keeping an eye on Susanoomon. Something about the digimon intrigued him but he just couldn't place his finger on it.

"I know how GearDevimon thinks." Gennai answered darkly. "He wants us to come after him. He wants us to find him and see how he unleashes chaos on the worlds."

"If he wants an audience, then he will get one." Tai said. "We'll destroy him before he even comes near the SoulStone."

"I'm sure you will." Gennai said with a hint of happiness in his voice. He was glad that Tai was still as eager to fight as he was all those years ago.

"But first I'm sending you back to the real world." Gennai continued.

"What!" Was the unified yell from digimon and humans alike. (all except Susanoomon off course)

"But Gennai, we can't all leave now. Sure Tai has to go to get Koromon but the rest of us are needed here." Kari spoke quickly.

"Your digimon are all exhausted and so are you. You will all need the rest." Gennai said with a firm voice.

"And I doubt your families will be happy that you left for battle without informing them first." He quickly added.

Everyone fell silent. The old man was right. They couldn't just leave like this. They had to see their family again, just once. After all, if they failed the world would cease to exist. And so would their family.

"Very well then." Gennai said as he saw the looks on the digidestined's faces. "I've pulled a few wires on Izzy's computer and inserted a few new ones. I can now send all of you back to the last place you entered."

"That's our house." Kari answered. "But when will we come back here?"

"Everyone will come to the park around eight in the morning." Tai said . Kari was surprised that he suggested such an early hour.

"Eight o'clock?!" Davis whined.

"Very well, then it's settled, let's get going." Everyone quickly grabbed hold of their digimon. Most were asleep after fighting a battle of such scale.

"Matt, could I have Tai's SoulStone back?" Gennai asked as everyone walked up to the old man.

Matt threw it. "I was wondering where that thing went." Tai said as Gennai held it up. "I'm sorry about not using it 'when the time is right' like you said Gennai. If I threw it at Tai before he could open the gate none of this would have happened." Matt said, a bit down about what had happened.

"Don't punish yourself for it Matt." Joe said. "Yeah, what's done is done. We'll just kick GearDevimon's ass a bit later then expected." Sora added. Matt smiled grimly.

Everyone held out their digivice. Gennai held Izzy's laptop open and they were all pulled in. Izzy took one last look at the computer he had to leave behind.

"You still sure you don't want to go with them?" Gennai asked once everyone was back home. He rolled Tai's crystal around in his hand. The thing could be useful IF he managed to tweak it a bit.

"Positive. He doesn't need me anymore." Susanoomon said with a glint of sadness in his eyes.

"He'll always need you. You're his big brother." Gennai said with a playful smile on his face.

"It doesn't matter anyway." Susanoomon said before planting his blade into the cold stone that was the cavern floor. "In a few days my body will collapse under the pressure created by the lack of darkness."

"All the more reason for you to spend time with Ken."

Meanwhile in the real world. Every human being was lying in a mangled heap of flailing limbs. Kari's mom and dad hadn't really expected twelve humans, a formerly human, a demon man and a pile of sleeping digimon to drop out of their computer in the middle of the night. But off course they hadn't been expecting that their son would be amongst them.

Even though he was now a pup that didn't even come up to their stomach if he were to stand on his hind legs.

"Taichi!" Yuuko squealed once she saw the familiar rookie get out from between the sleeping digimon. She quickly picked him up and nearly squeezed the life out of him.

"Where the hell have you been young man?" His father said as he ran over to his wife.

"No idea, most of the past few days is a blank." Tai said once his mom allowed him to breathe.

All the other digidestined had managed to untangle themselves and were now heading towards the door with digimon in hand.

"Sorry we can't stay longer miss Kamiya." TK said with a slight bow. "But we have to prepare for tomorrow." Matt added as he and his little brother left the apartment.

"Prepare, prepare for what?" Yuuko asked as the other digidestined disappeared till only her two children and Mimi were left. She had put Tai down and now he was conversing with Mimi. She had always know that he had a thing for the light brown-haired girl.

Not that she had expected it to be like this: a human girl and a currently dog-like digimon with a human soul. But hey: love doesn't know boundaries.

Mimi talked with Tai for a few minutes and left as well.

"That's why we came back. We need to prepare for tomorrow." Kari said with a weird shameful feeling.

"Can you explain it to them? I'm going to see how Koromon is doing." Tai said before running off. He hadn't even waited for an answer.

"Explain what?" His father asked with a confused look on his face.

Tai, Baromon and Salamon (who was still asleep and in the hands of Baromon) ran into Tai's room.

"Hey Koromon! I'm back!" Tai exclaimed once he was in the room.

"Aaahh!!" Koromon screamed as he slammed into Tai. He wrapped his ears around Tai's neck and tried to choke him. "Where the hell have you been! We were all worried sick about you!"

"Relax!" Tai managed to utter as he was gagged by Koromon. "I'm fine! So get off me!"

Koromon released him. "Sorry."

"Don't worry about it." Tai said as he calmed down a bit.

"So did you defeat GearDevimon? To bad, I wanted to kick his ass as well." Koromon said.

"You may still have that chance." Tai said darkly. "He isn't dead yet. He got away with the key." Baromon continued as he placed Salamon down.

"So does this mean we're off to save the world again?" Tai nodded.

"Man, we should start charging the world for saving it again and again." Koromon said with a broad smile, even though he was worried about the up-coming events. "When do we leave?"

"Tomorrow morning at-

Tai was cut off because of a scream coming from the other room. He, Koromon and Baromon quickly rushed out to there.

"What do you mean 'you might not come back'?" Tai heard his father yell.

"I see that Kari told you about our newest quest." He said with a sad smile on his dog-like face.

"Dad, you know we have to do this. The fate of the world depends on it!" Kari said back. "No one else will."

"We know. We know." Kari's mom said as tears formed in her eyes. "But why does it always have to be you guys. Why do you always have to save the world?"

"Like Kari said, because no one else is able." Tai said as he jumped on the couch.

"We're not even sure that we'll all make it back." He continued. "If Gennai's right we'll have to face up to digimon we've defeated before. But now we have to fight them all at the same time."

"That's why we came back. To rest up and see our families again." Kari said.

"We can't stop you, can we?" Tai's dad said with sadness clear in his voice.

"Not a chance." Tai responded.

"Very well then, son. Give them hell."

"We will dad."

* * *

"We have to do this mom. We have to save the world." 

"I know you have to Sora. I know, but I just can't be expected to be cool about this and send my only daughter off to battle some evil threatening the world."

"There's no one else who will save us miss Takenouchi." Biyomon said to her best friend's mother.

* * *

"But can't you leave it up to someone else? You're to young to fight wars like these." Mimi's dad pleaded to his little princess. 

"Dad, I already fought in two wars. Me and Palmon know how to fight."

"But.."

Mimi cut him off. "No discussion dad. I'm leaving tomorrow and I will come back. I promise."

"You better come back Mimi." Her mother said with a strict voice. "Else you're grounded."

* * *

"Don't worry mom. Me and Matt will be fine." 

"Yeah, we've done this before, remember?" Matt added to his brother's speech.

"Let them go." His father said. "They know what they're doing. Unlike us"

TK's mom looked a bit defeated. "Matt, take care of your little brother." Matt nodded. She turned to TK. "Make sure your brother doesn't do anything stupid."

"I will mom."

"Hey!"

* * *

"I'm sorry mom but I have to go." Izzy said honestly to his parents. 

"I know you have to. And know that whatever happens we'll always love you."

"I love you to mom and dad."

"Oh I hate teary goodbyes."

"We leave in the morning Tentomon, not now."

"Right." Tentomon said with a blush on his face, which was weird on an insect digimon.

* * *

"No way. I will not have my two children throw their lives away fighting for some other world." 

"But dad, how long do you think it will take before it spreads to this world?" Davis argued with his father.

"We're leaving tomorrow dad whether you like it or not." Jun said with a sense of determination in her voice.

* * *

"Grandfather, tomorrow I leave for the digital world. We have to fight for the sake of the world." Cody said to the old man he saw as a father of sorts.

"I understand Cody. I just hope you training with me will help you achieve victory."

They both bowed.

* * *

"You really have to go?" 

"Yes Momoe. It's our 'destiny' to save the world." Yolei pushed her glasses up as they slipped to the tip of her nose. "Again."

"You better come back, else I'll be stuck with Chizuru's whining al the time."

"Don't worry, I'll be back."

* * *

"Ken Ichijouji! You can not go fighting everything that comes along!" His father nearly yelled. 

"I have to dad, no one else will come to rescue us." Ken replied coolly.

"I know." His father calmed down. "But it's just…I don't want to lose you as well." Ken flinched as he knew that he was thinking about osamu.

"You won't."

* * *

"You sure about this Joe?" Shin asked his little brother. 

"Absolutely. You know I want to help people. What better way then to save the world?"

"Well little brother, it appears that you've grown up. The old you would have peed his pants if he knew he would be fighting al those creatures. Again." Shuu said with a smile on his face.

"What we're trying to say is…" Shin spoke up again. "Is that we're proud of you."

"So you better come back."

"We don't think the two of us will survive with only the other." Shin said as the two older brothers pointed at each other.

* * *

I didn't really like this chapter but I needed it in the story plus I hate saying good-bye. Well actually that happens next chapter. And I'm sorry because it's a bit short. I promis that next chapter will be more interesting

Next chapter: We go to war!

Reviews

Depthmon: Yes, he still is.

Marine the one and only: Don't worry, I'll only kill him a few times more.

Lord Pata: Only a little bit. And apparently most people already figured it out.

Angel of Courage and Kagami of the Mirror: He is. I decided to get him in and I needed a reason why Susanoomon was able to exist.

Hakumei-chan: Yeah I know it's cliche but what would the world be without them?

Beth: Captain planet is a hero! He's earth's greatest champion. he is build up from Earth, Wind, Fire, Water and Heart. I don't really remember when his show was aired but it was a long time ago.

Firehedgehog: Captain Planet rules!

Vigatus: Maybe he will. That would be one major plot twist

Coppa-Cola: Thanks for the compliment. and yes, Susanoomon is Osamu, Ken's dead brother. I'll explain how he became Susanoomon in later chapters.

Twin Tails Speed: Thank you


	32. Saying Goodbye

Don't own so don't sue.

* * *

Spirits of destiny

Chapter 32

Tai slept tight. Tomorrow they would go to war. Again. the fate of two worlds was on their shoulders. Again. They seriously needed to retire and let others save the world for a change. He was starting to feel old because of all the responsibilities.

But they would fight, as they always do. And they would win.

Or so he hoped. He knew that there was a chance that they lost. There was a chance that GearDevimon and his Pandora's box would be unleashed on the Digital World. And soon on the real world.

Tai dreamt. A normal uninteresting dream. As always.

'**So you're back on the good side?' **A voice asked.

'Yes, I'm back on the good side.' Tai answered. 'You helped me, didn't you?' Tai grinned at his counter-part.

'**What if I did?' **Tai's better half replied.

'I know you tried to help me. I remember your voice yelling at me when I was Duskmon.' Tai shuddered at that name. Kari had told him what he did as that thing.

'**Okay, so I may**** have done something to help you. But that doesn't mean that I like you.'**

'Keep telling yourself that.'

Kari was dreaming as well, though not as uninteresting as Tai. She was once again threatened by the shadow that invaded her mind. A shapeless creature without asolid form of sorts, but four glowingeyes that constantly follow her, wherever she went.

'Leave me alone!' She cried as it slowly crept after her.

'You will pay! You and your friends will all be devoured and there's nothing you can do about it.'

'But I still can!' A familiar, yet unknown voice yelled out. Another shadowy creature appeared out of nowhere. Kari had seen him before in her dreams but this was the first time she saw him this detailed.

He looked like a knight of sorts with a double-handed blade. One swift strike of said bladeand the creature that threatened her was gone, along with her saviour.

Morning came, sooner then expected.

The annoying alarm ringed at seven and Kari somehow managed to get out of bed.

"Tai, wake up." She expected to hear Tai's favourite excuse. But no reaction. She looked at Tai's bed. It was empty.

'Now that's a new one. Tai getting up before me. Hell must be freezing over.' She thought as she prepared herself for what would happen today. Today was war. They would once again fight against GearDevimon and if they didn't hurry: against Piedmon, Myotismon and God knows who else.

And then there was that thing in her dreams. Two pair of red eyes and a shapeless body. She had no idea what it was. She wasn't even sure if it was real.

But she would fight it if she had to.

She walked out of her room. She was ready for what would happen today.

Tai was, as she had expected, in the kitchen. He was currently chatting with Gatomon and BlackAgumon, who both had apparently digivolved during the night.

"Good morning." Kari said, though she tried hard to suppress a yawn. She sat down at the kitchen table.

"The same to you." Tai said.

"So today is the day?" Kari asked though she knew the answer. Tai nodded.

"Are you ready?" Tai asked, taking on his big brother attitude. "I think so."

"Don't worry Kari." Gatomon started. "If Myotismon or Machinedramon or any of the losers we defeated shows up we'll kick their asses so hard that they'll run back to whatever piece of rock they crawled out of."

This made Kari cheer up. "You're right as always."

"Can we go now?" BlackAgumon was a pile of nerves since he got up. "Not yet. Mom and dad aren't up yet. And neither is Baromon." Tai answered. "And we haven't eaten yet. I sincerely doubt that we'll be able to take out GearDevimon if we're starving."

"I'll wake Baromon up." Kari said as she stood up. She also heard voices coming from her parents' room, indicating that they were awake as well.

Once in her room Kari knocked on the closet door. They still weren't able to get Baromon to sleep on the couch. He kept saying that the closet was much more comfortable.

"I'm up, I'm up." She heard from within the closet. Soon the door opened. "Is it time to leave already?" He asked. Kari nodded.

"Well come on then Phoenix! Let's save the world!" He yelled. 'And then take over!' He added in his own mind.

Soon all of them were at the kitchen table. They had to add a few chairs since Tai, BlackAgumon and Gatomon refused to eat food from a bowl. "I'm human, for crying out loud!" Was Tai's reaction to his mom's suggestion.

Time flew by and then it was quarter to eight. "Let's go." Tai said calmly.

"Wait! I have to say goodbye to someone first." Baromon said as he stood up. "But Phoenix can come to the park, why don't you say goodbye there?" Tai asked as he followed Baromon.

"I'm not talking about him." Baromon said as he rushed to the living room. "Farewell TV. Until we meet again." He said to the inanimate object.

"Didn't see that coming." Tai said as Baromon gave the TV a hug.

"Can we go now?" Kari asked. They still had to walk all the way to the park.

"Let's go then." Tai said and he quickly ran to the door. He tried to open it before realizing that he didn't even reach there.

"Little help? I don't have opposable thumbs." His mom quickly came and opened it.

"We're coming with you." She said with a stern voice. "What?"

"You leave at the park right?" His father asked. Tai nodded. "Then we'll go there with you."

"Baromon, let go off the TV." Tai heard Gatomon say as he grumbled a bit.

Tai knew that he couldn't fight his parents' decision. It didn't take long for them to get to the park. In fact: they had five minutes to spare. As soon as they arrived there they saw where they were supposed to meet each other: at the only spot that wasn't blown up or vaporized.

Joe, his parents and brothers and Sora and her mom were already there.

"So, we meet again." Tai's father said as he walked over to Shuu and Shin. "Yeah, but I hoped that we would meet under better circumstances." Shin said. "You know, like at a party or something. Not when we send a relative towards his or her possible doom." Shuu added.

"So, how have you been?" Sora's mom asked Kari's mom. "Good, you?"

"The same. Would be better if I wasn't sending my daughter off to fight again."

"Mom, you know that we have to." Sora said for the tenth time that day.

"Don't worry miss Takenouchi, I'll keep her safe." Tai said, not realising that no one else but his friends knew about him being back.

"I know that voice." She said as she looked down at Tai. "But it can't be."

"Yeah Tai's back." Sora said. "We'll explain later."

"Let's just hope there will be a 'later'." Tai pointed out.

Soon the others arrived. All except Jun and Davis.

"So everyone ready?" Tai asked once everyone was there. "Wait where are Davis and Jun?"

"Here!" Someone yelled.

Jun came walking up with Davis, Veemon and Gigimon behind her.

"Sorry we're late." She started. "But HE." She pointed at a still half asleep Davis. "Just had to sleep till five to eight. And then we still had to escape our rooms."

"And I'm still tired." Davis said before yawning.

"You all ready now?" Gennai said.

Everyone turned around at the sound of that voice. "When did you get here?"

Gennai laughed. "A few seconds ago. Now are you all ready?"

They all nodded.

"Well let's go then." Gennai said before pointing to a rip between the Digital World and the real world.

Matt walked up to the gate first. "Bye mom. Bye dad." He said before jumping in along with Gabumon. TK was next.

"Take care of your brother." His dad said. "I will." TK said before jumping in.

"Bye everyone!" Yolei said with her ever sunny disposition, though she felt like crying just a little bit.

"You better come back!" One of her sisters yelled.

Ken was next. "Bye mom, dad. I'll come back." He said before walking in as well.

"Well Joe, you better come back." Shuu said. "Else we'll come and get you." Shin added.

"Oh dear." Joe said. "Let's go then, Gomamon." He said as he and Gomamon ran to the gate. "Bye mom and dad!" He yelled before disappearing.

"Izzy, take care of yourself and your friends." Izzy's mom said. "And Tentomon, look after Izzy." Izzy's dad said to the bug-like creature.

"I will." Tentomon said.

Izzy's mom hugged him. "Come back soon."

Izzy nodded before he disappeared into the gate as well.

Sora walked up to the gate. "I have to do this mom." Her mother just nodded.

Davis and Jun were next. "This sucks." Davis said. Their mom and dad hadn't come with them. They didn't even know they were here. The two of them had been grounded so they just escaped their rooms.

Their father refused to let them go.

"Be careful princess." Mimi's father said as he hugged his daughter. "Dad, I can take care of myself, so don't worry."

"I know." He said with a sad smile.

Mimi disappeared through the rift. Cody walked up to it as well. Silently he greeted his grandfather before jumping in.

The only ones who were left were Tai and Kari.

"Well, this is it." Tai said. "Off to war!" He said as he jumped into the rift. BlackAgumon and Baromon followed.

"Bye mom and dad." Kari said as she followed her brother. "We'll come back!"

The rift closed once Gennai headed in.

"Wow." Someone said.

"Will they be okay out there?" Joe's father asked.

"Off course they will. Joe may be a wimp but he knows how to defend himself." Shuu said.

"And you." Sora's mom started. "Have some explaining to do." She said as she pointed at Yuuko, who just smiled nervously.

* * *

"Everyone ready?" Gennai asked. "Where the hell are we?" Tai asked as he looked over the plains. 

"You know how the Chasms of Silence are the edge of this world?" Gennai asked.

"Yes." Tai said dryly.

"Then this is the other end of the world." Gennai said happily.

"That doesn't make any sense." Izzy said. "Nothing here does."Susanoomon pointed out.

"Let's stop discussing about what makes sense and what doesn't." Tai said.

"**DemiSphinxmon digivolves to… Lowemon!"**

Tai, now back in a more human form, spoke up. "Gennai, where is GearDevimon and the SoulStone prison?"

"I don't know about GearDevimon, but the prison is there." He pointed at a cave, across of the plains where they stood.

"You think that GearDevimon is already inside?" Kari asked.

"He must be." Gennai said. "He is just waiting for us to come."

"Let's go then." Tai said confidently.

* * *

I hate saying good-bye. I'm sorry that it's a bit short. And I know I promised something more interesting but I'm suffering from writer's block plus i have exams coming up, so I won't be able to write for a while. 

Reviews

Vigatus: Thanks

Smoochynose: Glad you thought it was good and sorry that not mush interesting happens now.

Fruitloop Trooper: He's a pawn, the real deal will be revealed soon.

Firefairy219: always nice to find someone from Belgium

Firehedgehog: I know 'Holds up ring of earth'

Depthmon: I thought about that for a while but no. (Lol, I had one idea though, in which Joe turned into Beetlemon)

Hakumei-chan: I know, it's nearly impossible to write a story without using one.

Beth: He got crushed by Zudomon, I mentioned it in some flashback.

Mariny the one and only: 'Runs away screaming with Davis chasing him'

Twin Tails Speed: Thanks

Coppa-Cola: Captain Planet! Yay! 'Holds out little flag with Captain Planet writen on it'

Lord Pata: Hope you'r feeling better. Damn you flu!

Dark-Pinoy: Thanks, glad you like it. And I'll reveal what Mimi said next chapter.

Thanks and R&R!


	33. Sacrifices

Don't own so don't sue.

* * *

Spirits of destiny

Chapter 33

Ken was, to say it simple, intrigued by the warrior of ten elements. Well nine actually since he had given up on the element of darkness.

There was something about him. Something very familiar but he couldn't put his finger on it.

Ken promised himself that he would find out what it was after the battle.

Tai walked at front of the team of digidestined. They were all anxious and nervous about what would happen next. Would they live to see another day? Or would they finally fall at the hands of GearDevimon and his legion of possessed digimon? Or at the hands of something far worse?

"Hey Gennai." Tai said suddenly. "There's something I've been meaning to ask you for some time now."

"Ask away." Gennai smiled.

"If this 'prison' of yours keeps evil digimon in, how do they get in?"

"That's a good question my friend." Gennai started. "The SoulStone is a peculiar object. It can store vast amounts of energy and pull foreign energy out of digimon."

Tai nodded. He had used his stone to do that a few times.

"The SoulStone also holds enough strength to lock souls or spirits in. Most spirits enter the SoulStone easily. They get in but they don't get out. The shell prevents that, unless of outside actions."

"So it's like those roach motels." Davis, who had been listening all the time, cut in. "They check in but they don't check out."

"That's one way to put it." Gennai said as he rubbed the back of his head.

"But why do you need a key then?" Tai asked as he processed the information.

"Some creatures." Gennai's tone of voice darkened. "Are so powerful, so wicked that they can not enter it in a normal way. They have to be forced through the shell."

"The key was a part of the SoulStone. It allows us to open it at will." Gennai continued.

"But it can also be used to unleash those within." Tai added.

"I'm afraid you're right." Gennai said.

They walked on and on but the cave didn't seem to get any closer. GearDevimon was waiting for them but he was running out of patience.

"If those brats don't show up soon I'll just plunge that 'key' into that piece of stone and unleash hell." GearDevimon snarled. "But then there wouldn't be any spectators."

* * *

"I can see him." Joe said. "GearDevimon."

They had come close enough to see the five-winged menace and his army.

"Everyone digivolve!"

(A/N: I don't feel like writing all of them.)

Once everyone had reached their highest level they charged. Tai, as JagerLowemon, led the attack

"Here kitty-kitty-kitty!" GearDevimon mocked as Tai came closer. "Why can't you just die?"

"You first!" Tai growled before charging at the devil creature.

Every where there was battle. Apparently GearDevimon had acquired a few new recruits on his way here. A few thousand.

Machinedramon was currently crushing some champion digimon who thought they stood a chance against the almighty mega-level.

'Elecmon is going to work overtime after this.' Tai thought as he bit down on GearDevimon's arm. He screamed in pain as Tai's fangs broke through the leathery skin. It tasted awful.

"Down kitty!" GearDevimon snarled as he struck Tai with the blunt side of his spear.

Tai didn't let go. His fangs were crushing the thin bones in his adversary's arm.

'_Snap!'_

Tai had succeeded in breaking GearDevimon's arm. He let go of the fore-arm which disappeared into thin air.

"First my wing." GearDevimon snarled. "Now my right-arm. You will pay for this!" GearDevimon said as he spread his wings and took to the sky. Tai half expected him to enter the cave and unleash whatever was in there. But he didn't.

He just perched himself on a cliff, his other hand on the stump that was once a perfectly fine arm.

Tai wondered what he was planning up there but didn't have time for that. The battle was still going on and he was just in time to prevent Baromon getting deleted by a ShadowOgremon.

"Now we're even." He growled before finishing the ShadowOgremon off.

Baromon nodded and danced the Swim to send a barrage of meteors towards a ShadowGarurumon.

GearDevimon looked at the battlefield. The only thing more fun then winning was to get your opponents to think they might win and then CRUSH them completely.

He was planning on doing so, though he hadn't expected to lose another limb in battle.

Susanoomon's blade moved faster and faster. Enemies dropped down but for every one he defeated two would come in its place. There wasn't an end to these.

He saw how a few ultimates crept up to his brother. He didn't see them and thus couldn't hope to avoid them.

"Ken!" He yelled as he swung his blade around, clearing away any enemies surrounding him and ran towards Ken.

"Heaven's Thunder!" He cried out as he send twin lightning bolts towards the digimon threatening his brother.

Ken turned around just in time to see two dragon digimon disappear in a cloud of dust.

"Are you okay little brother?" Susanoomon asked.

"I'm fine." Ken said. Then Susanoomon's words sunk in. "Did you just call me 'little brother'?"

"I'll explain later!" Susanoomon yelled as he needed to save Gennai's life from a killer cherry-tree.

'Osamu.'

"I knew it!" He yelled out. "I knew there was something about you! Osamu!"

Tai was currently fighting alongside MagnaAngemon and Angewomon. Five or six ultimates had made Kari and TK their targets.

Tai clenched his jaws round one of the digimon's weapons. His steel fangs snapped it in two. "Ebony Blast!" He yelled, sending twin rays of darkness towards the armoured man.

"This is going rather well, don't you think?" MagnaAngemon commented after he knocked another possessed digimon out.

"If by 'well' you mean that the world hasn't been destroyed then yes: it's going well!" Angewomon replied.

"Less talking, more fighting!" Tai yelled as he took another shot at the armoured digimon.

Machinedramon picked that moment to crush the armoured digimon that Tai was fighting.

"Hey! I was fighting that one!"

"You were losing." Machinedramon said dryly.

"No I wasn't." Tai replied.

"Tai! Follow your own advise!" Kari yelled as a small steel ball digimon snuck up on him.

"Ebony Blast!" Tai yelled, sending a volley of dark beams towards the enemy digimon.

GearDevimon smirked. The digidestined just refused to give up. But his army was huge. Almost unlimited. He had taken control of nearly every digimon he could find on his way back here.

But he'd better hurry up and free his masters. If he didn't then there wouldn't be an audience left to witness their rule.

"At long last!" He yelled. "Evil will spread through out the world again!"

"Not if I can help it!" Tai yelled back.

"Oh shut up kitty. We both know there's nothing you can do to stop me!" GearDevimon taunted.

"We'll see about that! Dark Master!" Tai yelled and send a wave of dark energy towards the devil-like creature.

"You seem to have forgotten…" GearDevimon smirked as the wave came closer. "That I am part of the darkness as well!" He yelled and split the attack in two, causing two harmless halves to soar towards the sun.

"Which also makes me wonder… How come you're still standing before me while I drained you of your energy?

"Like I'm going to tell you that." Tai bared his teeth.

"Fine, don't tell me. It doesn't matter."

GearDevimon flew up.

"Your life will be over in a few minutes anyway."

He flew back down, his balance a bit off because of one missing wing. He clenched his spear in his still present arm.

He struck down on the place where Tai was just a second ago. GearDevimon looked up to see a Machinedramon standing there with Tai clenched in his right hand.

"Put me down! This is my fight!"

"Hell no." Machinedramon's monotone voice spoke.

"What's the matter Tai? Not allowed to come and play?" GearDevimon snapped at him. Rule number one of the villain manual: always taunt your enemies several times before you finish them off.

"Aahh! Put me down!" Tai roared out of anger, paws flailing to get away from Machinedramon and to get to GearDevimon and rip that tongue of his out. He already lost a wing and an arm. His tongue wouldn't be a big loss.

Tai actually did break loose from Machinedramon's grip and charged at the twisted excuse for a digital monster.

Baromon saw this and send out a meteor at GearDevimon, striking the creature in the chest. He just knocked it out of the way with his spear.

"Come and get it kitty!" GearDevimon continued as Tai tried another "Dark Master!" attack but failed again.

"Don't you see? We are the same. Two parts of the same power." GearDevimon said, plunging his spear into the ground.

"You stole that power from me." Tai growled. "And I plan on taking it back!" Tai charged forward, fangs gleaming in the fading sunlight.

"Foolish creature."

GearDevimon picked his spear up again and slammed it down onto Tai's head. He had easily predicted Tai's attack. They were all the same, no thought about what the enemy could do to fight back.

Tai winced in pain as the steel plate covering his head started to crack. He refused to give up and succumb to the pain. He backed away from GearDevimon and snarled in a cat-like way.

"Here kitty-kitty-kitty." GearDevimon said mockingly.

"Tai get away from him!" Kari yelled out in fear of what would happen to her brother. He didn't have his own SoulStone anymore. Gennai still had that, so if he wasn't careful he could fall victim again to GearDevimon's manipulations.

Machinedramon was currently occupied with a small army of champion digimon, who were trying to overwhelm him with sheer numbers. It didn't help much but it was enough to keep him busy.

All the others were currently spread all over the plains, fighting off an unstoppable army.

"Give it up kitty." GearDevimon smirked. "It's all over. Hell will break loose today and there's nothing you can do as long as I have this!" He held up a piece of crystal. He quickly put it away again as Tai charged him again.

"You know, most digimon learn from their mistakes." GearDevimon yawned and raised his spear again.

"You're right about that." Tai said and stopped in his tracks. Angewomon had currently positioned herself behind GearDevimon and released a "Celestial Arrow!"

The arrow pierced GearDevimon's right shoulder. He cried out in pain. "That's it! Play time is over!" He shrieked as he lifted his spear up again, this time for a killing blow. Tai didn't have the time to move out of the way…

GearDevimon struck down with the spear and shattered the plate shielding Tai's head.

Tai was knocked against a boulder laying about halfway in the battle-field. A flash of light and he dedigivolved into his rookie form.

"Tai!" Kari and Machinedramon cried out. Kari was to far away from her brother to help him and Machinedramon was still doing his best not to get swarmed with Shadow digimon.

Tai struggled to get up. His entire body was sore from the blow against the rock and his head felt as if it was going to burst.

"Looks like it's game over for you kitty or should I say puppy?" GearDevimon's laughter cut through Tai's head.

"I can't say that I didn't enjoy our struggles but it's time to say goodbye to the world courageboy." GearDevimon reared his still functioning arm into a throwing position and threw the spear.

The spear had a clear path. No digimon or humans were in its way. The digidestined couldn't do anything. They all saw the spear fly towards Tai in slow-motion.

Tai looked up and saw the jagged end of the spear coming closer and closer. 'Farewell world. Mimi, I'm sorry I can't keep my promise.' Yesterday he had sworn to her that he would come back with her. He closed his eyes as he awaited impact.

Everyone gasped as they heard the spear hit its target, yet they continued to fight for their lives.

Tai expected the pain to come. That his body would fade away into nothing.

That didn't happen.

"Pity." He heard GearDevimon say.

Slowly Tai opened his eyes and saw what had rescued him.

"Baromon!" Tai struggled to his feet and slowly paced over to the demon man with a spear through his body.

"Why did you save me?" Tai's eyes filled with tears.

"You're my friend and since no one else was around…" He coughed.

"Taimon…" He continued. "Now we're truly even." Tai just nodded.

"Could you do me a favour?" Baromon asked with a soft voice.

"Anything." Tai replied.

"Use my energy and kick his ass." Baromon said as he turned to digital dust.

"I will." Tai said as part of the dust disappeared. The remaining was Baromon's energy. It quickly seeped into Tai's battered body.

"GearDevimon!" Tai yelled out as he glowed a silver colour unlike any before.

"What's the matter puppy? Did I break your friend?" GearDevimon laughed.

"You will pay!" Tai griwled as a silver light engulfed him.

* * *

Hooray I'm back! Apparently exams weren't so long as I had expected plus I got my mojo back! Please don't kill me for killing Baromon. He'll be back at the end of the story. 'Dodges bowling balls thrown at him.'

Reviews

Smoochynose: I know, that's with all evil guys. They wait for the hero to show up and then they try to take over the world. And yes GearDevimon will get what's coming to him.

Lord Pata: Liked that scene as well. 'Takes out can of Reviewer-be-gone from his utility belt and sprays Lord Pata with it.' I told you I'd be back (Though a bit faster then i had expected)

CherrygirlUK: Thank you. always nice to know that someone likes my writing.

Coppa-Cola: You will soon know 'Evil laugh'

Firehedgehog: I know, that's why I killed him, so he won't take over the world. But he'll be back.

Hakumei-Chan: Glad to be of assistence. Hope you feel better soon!

graypheonix: I got through. BIG TIME. I had like 80 on everything. I rule! And my writer's block is gone!

Depthmon: i love that sentence. And yes, I thought Joe would be an awesome Beetlemon. Also: Joe and JP are actually quite alike. they both want to go home in the start but learn that they must fight in order for the world to continue existing! And lol: Joe as Ranamon

Martiny the one and only: 'Sees Tai and Davis on a chain, trying to get to him.' Okay, so I won't kill them, I'll just bring them in a state of near death, okay?

Vigatus: Thanks

GRX3m0m: Enough action?

Angel of Courage and Kagami of the mirror: No problem, just glad that you reviewed for that one.

Beth: The Chasms of Silence is the place where they found the key. Tai went there as Duskmon and came back out as Lowemon. And keep the hamster away since I updated

Thanks for reading and please don't shoot the author.


	34. King of the World

Don't own so don't sue

* * *

Spirits of destiny

Chapter 34

"I'll make sure that you never hurt anyone anymore!" Tai yelled as the silver light engulfed him completely. Friend and foe alike turned their heads to see what was going on.

The sun was slowly dimming with this display of pure darkness

"**DemiSphinxmon..." **Tai yelled out, signalling the start of something big.

He took on a human-like form before shifting to a more animal-like shape.

"**Warp digivolves to…"**

The light shifted again to a human-like shape, only bigger. Way bigger.

The silver creature had grown a lot and he wasn't even done digivolving yet.

The earth underneath Tai split open and darkness oozed out of it. Miasma flowed up from the cracks and quickly spread across his body as a new form of armor.

The liquefied darkness turned to steel and showed of an armor made of the darkest shade of black anyone had ever seen.

The earth shook once more and out of the cracks flowed even more miasma. It slowly formed into a handle. Tai pulled it out of the ground. He revealed a serrated two-handed sword. It was a beautiful silver blade, capable of slicing through the toughest hides and the strongest steel.

Tai pulled it out of the ground completly and held it over his head.

The sun became visible again as a crown formed on Tai's head. It was encrusted with two red stones and his digivice in the middle of it. His unruly hair was pushed down by the crown, giving him a lion-like look.

The silver light faded from Tai's skin as he yelled out in a voice heard across the entire plains.

"**KingLowemon!"**

"No frigging way." Matt said as he looked at his friend and leader.

"I think that we might have a chance now." Angewomon said, not believing that her big brother had changed into the mega that stood in the middle of the battle-field.

Kari didn't know what to say. She looked at Tai or KingLowemon, as he is known now. He was huge. He must have been at least 8 meters tall. (Think Optimus Prime in the 2007 movie)

His armor was as black as the night and very impressive. It had a lion's head on the chest and seemed rather heavy. His arms were engraved with markings she had never seen before. They seemed to radiate with power.

GearDevimon was nearly crapping his pants. The kid had changed into THAT? He couldn't believe it but there he was, holding a sword that looked rather painful, especially to him, after what he did to Tai's friend.

"Attack!" GearDevimon shrieked. "Attack! Attack! Attack!" He ordered all of his troops to move forward and crush the newly digivolved mega-level.

Tai saw how many a digimon charged him. Slowly he lifted his sword. He waited.

Until…

A swipe was seen and the sound of steel meeting flesh was heard.

All those who had charged Tai disappeared in a cloud of dust.

"Wow…" Joe said slowly as Tai lowered his sword. "That was kinda cool." Mimi said as she looked up at her 'boyfriend', who was now towering over all of them except a few digimon.

"Damn, that was cool." Tai said, looking at the handle of his blade. A demonic face was carved into it.

"GearDevimon!" Tai yelled out. "Come and face me like a mon!" GearDevimon was currently cowering on top of a mountain. The kid had changed into something more powerfull then his entire armada. He still had a few thousand behind the rocks as a surprise, but what use would they serve against THAT?

"How about 'NO'?" GearDevimon yelled back. It wouldn't do him any good to show fear at a time like this.

Tai ran towards the mountain. Each step made the earth beneath him tremble. He lifted his sword and struck it down onto GearDevimon, who just barely avoided it.

Around this time GearDevimon started to panic. There was no way he could defeat that thing. It was to strong. If only…

GearDevimon would have struck himself on the head if he wasn't dodging Tai's sword. He had nearly forgotten why he came here in the first place.

He smirked and laughed rather diabolically.

Big mistake.

GearDevimon had only succeeded in distracting himself. In that one second that he didn't move Tai turned around and struck him with his sword.

Luckily for GearDevimon it was the dull side that had hit him but it send him flying anyway.

"You know? To me you're just a big mosquito." Tai laughed as he watched how GearDevimon flew over the plains. "A big annoying mosquito that just got squished."

"Wow." Joe said calmly. "Now that's something you don't see everyday."

"You're right about that." Izzy said as he saw GearDevimon smash into a piece of rock on the other side of the plains.

"Hail to the king, baby!" Davis said as he heard the bang of GearDevimon impacting with the rock. "That just gotta hurt."

GearDevimon was barely able to stand. Getting hit with a huge sword and then getting hurled into a piece of rock wasn't very healthy.

Slowly the world stopped spinning. Anger started to course through his veins. He turned to the number one on his death list.

All across the plains. A loooooooong way from him. There was the courage kid. He was huge but still small compared to Zudomon and Imperialdramon. But size doesn't matter. The kid was a mega level. And a powerful one too.

If he was to live another day he would have to hurry back, stay the hell away from the digidestined of courage and release his masters.

He took to the air with his five still-present wings. His main goal was to get past Tai now.

All the digidestined had gathered round Tai now. The Shadow digimon had stopped fighting. Just all of a sudden they froze in their tracks. Izzy thought that was because of the fact that GearDevimon was defeated or maybe because of the fact that they needed further orders, seeing that their attack on Tai had failed.

"Damn, man. You're huge!" Davis yelled up.

"I know." Tai rolled his eyes.

"Hey Tai! What's the weather like up there?" Joe laughed.

"Dry!" He yelled back.

"Man, this is so cool!" Machinedramon said as he looked at Tai. The earlier serious tone in his voice was gone. "But I'm still cooler."

"Keep thinking that." Tai said. "Any ideas on what we do know?" He asked his (tiny) friends.

"Don't know." Yolei said. "Maybe wait for GearDevimon to return? You know, so we can kick his ass permanently?"

"Good plan, but it might take him a while to come back. I struck him rather far." Tai focused on the direction he had send GearDevimon to. If you looked closely you could see a small five-winged creature heading their way.

"But when he does I'll just hit him with this again." Tai said as he lifted his sword up, nearly cutting Garudamon open with it.

"Hey watch where you point that thing!" She yelled as she backed away a bit.

"Sorry. I'm not really used to being this big." Tai looked at his sword. "And I don't have any experience wielding this thing either." He laughed.

"That's not true. Didn't you see what you did with GearDevimon?" Kari said to her BIG brother.

"Yeah, you flung away like some insect." TK added as he looked where Tai had send the demon-thing.

The shape was a bit more detailed now but it would take him at least ten minutes or so to get back.

"Yeah." Tai said with an air of cool around him. "I'm just really talented then."

"Actually it's just part of your nature." Gennai told him. "Swordplay is programmed into you."

"Sure, ruin it for me." Tai pouted. It was indeed a very strange sight to see an eight meter tall man/king pout.

"So your highness." Matt said, the last word a bit mockingly. "Can't we just go over to GearHead and bash his brains in?" Everyone turned to Matt. "What? It's better that we take care of him now, before we do something stupid so he escapes and unleashes evil upon us."

"He does have a point." Joe pointed out. "Something always goes wrong if we don't take care of a problem at once."

"Okay." Tai said lifting his sword up again, this time nearly striking Zudomon. "Sorry about that." He said with a blush on his face. "Let's introduce GearDevimon to the better half of my sword." Tai laughed as he ran his fingers down the serrated edge. He would have lost all his fingers by now if he didn't wear steel gloves.

GearDevimon cursed as he saw Tai running towards him. He didn't expect that. He had learned of the digidestined's ways of fighting. Most of them involved them waiting for the enemy to come to them.

But it wasn't a complete loss. As soon as they came close enough he'd just order his army to attack and then he would unleash hell.

"Over here mosquito!" Tai yelled as GearDevimon came close enough to hear. "Stand and Fight!" Tai yelled out. GearDevimon, not knowing the nature of Tai's attack stayed away from Tai. He backed away as Tai lifted his sword. Big mistake.

Tai slammed his sword into the ground. The earth started to crack open and pieces of rock were sent flying towards GearDevimon.

A particularly large piece of stone hit GearDevimon, sending him down to solid ground once more and into the cracks created by Tai's sword.

"Wow." TK said as he looked down into the abyss. "Remind me never to piss you off."

Tai just laughed at that.

Meanwhile GearDevimon's army had sprung into action once more. They just attacked whatever they encountered.

"I don't think he's dead yet." Mimi said as Tai kicked an Ogremon away.

"Don't worry about him. Doubt he'll ever be able to climb out of that." Tai said as he pointed at the rip in the ground.

What Tai forgot was that GearDevimon can travel through shadows and with that cave was darker then the depths of the sea.

"Pathetic fools!" A voice sounded out of the abyss. GearDevimon's eyes were visible as they came out of it and headed towards the cave.

"Oh crap." Tai said as he fought of a bunch of Floramon that were trying o gang up on him. (Trying being the keyword here)

He saw how GearDevimon rematerialized at the entrance and mockingly waved at them.

"Matt, Mimi, TK, Kari! Follow him!" Tai yelled at his little sister. "I can't come with you. I don't fit." Tai said a bit awkwardly.

"Don't worry about it." Kari quickly said.

The four of them and their digimon headed to the cave. On the way there she vaguely heard Matt claim that he was right as usual.

"I knew this was going to happen." He said from atop of MetalGarurumon. "It always happens in the movies."

They entered the cave. TK, currently hanging onto MagnaAngemon scowled at Matt. "This ain't a movie Matt."

"I know that." Matt replied angrily.

"People, save your fighting for after we saved the world." Mimi said as she tried to focus in the darkness.

"Yeah-yeah." Matt said quickly.

Soon they arrived at the centre of the cave. A crystal was there.

Kari, Mimi, Matt, TK and their digimon just stared at it. It was huge. Almost as high as Machinedramon. Kari began to wonder how they even got it into this cave.

"What the hell?" Matt exclaimed.

"That's it. The prison where they locked away every evil thing that ever walked the Digital World." TK said in a combination of awe and disgust.

"Except me of course." A maniacal laugh was heard.

"GearDevimon!"

Said creature was hovering lazily at a dent in the crystal. In his useable hand was the key.

"So this is what it feels like." He said to no one in particular. "To hold the fate of the world in your hand."

TK wanted to yell at the devil-creature. But something beat him to it.

"GearDevimon! You will release us at once!" A familiar voice spoke. Angewomon tried to ignore it but the sound cut through her like a knife through butter.

"Myotismon!" Kari yelled.

"What's this? The little light human has come to stop us. But no this time!!"

* * *

The voice was heard through out the plains. Numerous heads turned.

"Myotismon." Tai said softly. He hoped never to see that thing again.

* * *

"Are these the creatures that defeated you? I must say that I'm not very impressed." An other voice spoke.

"Shut up! GearDevimon! Let us out now or I'll make sure that you won't leave here in one piece!"

GearDevimon's grin faded.

He quickly lifted his hand and slipped the key into the dent.

"No!!" Everyone there yelled.

"Yes!!" Two voices yelled out.

The cave began to shake as evil began to leak from the crystal.

"Kari, we have to get out of here!" TK grabbed her arm and pulled her away from the crystal.

MagnaAngemon picked the two of them up and motioned Angewomon to come along as well. Matt and Mimi were waiting for them at the exit. They flew and ran as fast as the could. They barely made it out of the cave as it collapsed just as Matt and MetalGarurumon came out of it.

"We were to late." Kari sobbed as they arrived where their friends were. Most Shadow digimon had stopped attacking again.

"It's okay. We'll just find another way to stop him. We've done it before." TK said, trying to calm her down.

"Done what before?" Cody asked quickly.

"Myotismon." Tai answered, as if that explained everything.

The entire mountain collapsed. The rubble was torn away by a blast of purple light.

And from that light something rose up…

* * *

Hooray! Evil is here! What do you think of KingLowemon?

Reviews

Smoochynose: He'll be back. And GearDevimon will get what's coming to him. 'Evil laugh'

Fruitloop Trooper: Thanks

Vigatus: I was waiting for this part! All hail KingLowemon!

Hakumei-Chan: I like him to. I actually feel bad for killing him.

Firehedgehog: You're right about that.

Lord Pata: 'puts can away' Actually it will get worse befor it gets better

anime25: There will be a happy ending (though i don't like happy endings)

Martiny the one and only still: Woohoo I get to live for another day!

Beth: He got infected naturally. You know, inner evil and stuff. With him it just escalated a bit and the soulstone was able to drain it from him.

Martin jun: Glad you like it

Coppa-Cola: Yes I am evil. And there's nothing you can do about it!

Quetzalcoatls: Thank you

Depthmon: Yes but his original name is Osamu, so I just call him that. And I'm glad you reviewed. Doesn't matter if its a bit later then normal.


	35. Orochimon

Don't own, so don't sue me

Don't own, so don't sue me. I'm just a poor boy from Belgium with to much free time.

* * *

Spirits of destiny

Chapter 35

"Free! Free at last!" A creature of sorts screamed as it burst free from the rubble of what once was a crystal sealed within a cave.

"What the hell is that?" Kari asked as she looked at the creature. It was the stuff of nightmares were made of. Eight heads on serpent like necks crawled around in several directions. But the most disturbing part about it was that only two of them seemed to be alive.

The eyes of those two glowed a vile red. The others eyes were a faded grey colour.

Eventually a body was seen. It was made up from a steel torso and right-arm, both which seemed very familiar. Where the left arm was supposed to be were a dozen or two human-sized arms. Of course they weren't human but it was a freakish sight though. On its back were wings, most of which were to small for the enormous body but it seemed that there were enough of them to carry the thing.

"Our name is Orochimon." Its voice boomed out across the plains.

"Orochimon?" Davis asked as he looked at the thing that was their newest enemy.

"The name fits." Tai said calmly. "But I heard Myotismon's voice, so where is he?"

One of the heads lowered itself down to Tai's eyelevel. Tai flinched a bit but refused to back away.

He recognized the head.

"Myotismon." He growled.

"How nice of you to remember me." It said with a sneer. Slowly the head pasted Tai and headed to Kari. "And your little sister here remembers me too. I can see the fear in her eyes."

Kari cringed at that. Angewomon conquered her fears of her former master and stepped in front of Kari. "Leave her alone!" She yelled as she took on a threatening stance.

"Ah yes, Gatomon. How nice to see you again. Especially after last time. I've been waiting for revenge ever since you ripped my strength from me!"

The head returned to its original position.

"But of course you can't take revenge without the means to back it up. Meet my new partner in crime."

The digidestined including Gennai and Susanoomon stared in horror as another head lowered itself to their position.

"Lucemon." Gennai said, with a hint of anger in his voice.

"Ah my dear Gennai. How long has it been? Seventy-thousand? Eighty-thousand years since you trapped me in that glorified marble of yours? Time sure flies when you're plotting revenge." Lucemon's head spoke rather calmly.

"What did you do to yourself?" Gennai asked in a tone that contained both curiosity and horror.

"Myotismon used part of the Kimeramon-data to create a new being. One that would cleanse the digital and human world."

Ken flinched as he heard Kimeramon's name. That creature was his biggest mistake and now Myotismon had somehow obtained the data on it.

"How did you even get that data? It was supposed to be destroyed!" Ken yelled out.

"Ah yes. It was destroyed, but as you already know, nothing here gets destroyed permanently. Mummymon collected all the bits and pieces for me. The pathetic fool probably didn't even know what he was collecting." Myotismon's mouth curled in to a thin, wicked grin.

"I used that data to unite all of the prisoners within the SoulStone. Unfortunately… The data was a bit flawed." Myotismon continued.

"Instead of becoming one, we became something much greater!" Lucemon finished.

"But unity is not without its victims." Lucemon motioned his head towards the other six heads, who were still not responding to anything. "Most weren't powerful enough to maintain their 'being.' Those other heads are just shells of what once were great digimon."

Tai recognized a few heads. Piedmon, Apocalymon and a few others he didn't recognize.

"So basically they're brain-dead?" Kari asked hesitantly. She head no love for any of those digimon but this was just plain awful.

"Think of it as thinking-ineptness." Myotismon said, still with that smile on his face. "They can still cause a lot of damage though."

Without warning one of the heads rushed forward. The dragon-head opened its mouth, showing rows of sharp teeth.

The head was aimed at Angewomon. She still stood in front of Kari, refusing to move away from her protégé. But before the dragon could strike he was blocked by MagnaAngemon. He slammed his sword through its skull.

The head dissolved in a cloud of data.

"One down." MagnaAngemon said as he sheathed his sword. The headless neck flailed around aimlessly.

"Seven to go." Tai continued.

"Don't think so." Lucemon said rather uninterested.

The neck suddenly stopped moving around. Slowly a new head emerged from the gap.

"No way." Joe said as he tried to prevent himself from throwing up as the sounds were rather sickly.

"That's just impossible." Matt said, not believing what he saw.

The new head had formed. A different one then before but still Orochimon had eight heads.

"What you seem to have forgotten is that we are with hundreds. Hundreds of evil digimon that hold power beyond your wildest dreams." Myotismon's voice was heard.

"But we have been chatting long enough." Lucemon said, clearly annoyed. "Time to die."

"You're right about that!" A new voice was heard. GearDevimon had finally freed himself from the rubble.

"You're all going to get it now!" He cackled maniacally.

"Damn, I forgot about him." Tai said to Machinedramon, who just nodded to say the same.

"And if you'll excuse me masters. I'd like to receive my award now." GearDevimon floated near the two sentient heads.

"Ah yes, your reward." Myotismon said, rather annoyed by the digital devil.

"That's right. You promised me power once I got you free, which I did. So hand it over." GearDevimon nearly snarled. He had no interest in hanging around longer then he had to.

"Oh you will get your power. All the power you'll ever need." Lucemon smiled evilly.

"Damn straight." GearDevimon said.

A giant steel hand suddenly clamped him. "Hey what's the big idea? Let go off me!"

"I thought you wanted power? We're just giving it to you." GearDevimon screamed in pain as his data was added to the vast collection of dark digimon within Orochimon.

The digidestined watched in horror as the last bits of GearDevimon disappeared.

"Foolish creatures. Promise them the world and they'll do anything." Lucemon smirked.

"As for you." Myotismon pointed the steel arm at the humans, who flinched at the gesture.

"I'll make you an offer." He continued. "Join us willingly as the first humans amongst us or face pain and suffering worse then anything imaginable first. Either way you'll become part of us."

"We'll never join you!" Tai yelled out.

"Such a pity." Lucemon responded in a soft voice. "You'll be the first one." Tai flinched at that but still refused to run.

Tai held up his sword as the steel arm was lifted once more.

"Wait." Lucemon said suddenly. He recognized something familiar within GearDevimon's data. "I know that energy." He said to himself. "AncientSphinxmon." He spat out that name as if it was a swear. "GearDevimon made himself more useful then I thought."

"What do you mean?" Myotismon asked, both curious and annoyed as he was stopped from attacking Tai.

"It means that AncientSpinxmon is weak. We can easily overthrow him since GearDevimon somehow managed to steel part of his energy."

"I like the way you think. Conquer the elements first, then the world." Myotismon laughed darkly at the change of plan.

"Pitiful and weak digidestined. You may live a while longer. We will first deal with the Ancients but our offer still stands."

"Don't hold your breath!" Davis yelled. Lucemon and Motismon smirked but didn't do anything.

The many sets of wings that adorned Orochimon's back were set in motion. Slowly the massive creature was lifted into the air and at a steady pace it flew away, with a whole army of Shadow digimon after them. Apparently it was able to control them, since GearDevimon was a part of them now.

The digidestined stayed silent for a minute or two.

"What the hell just happened?" Mimi asked as she looked up at Tai. "I have no idea. All I know is that we need to stop him, it, them whatever." He responded as the blob that was Orochimon faded away from sight.

"This is all my fault." Ken said as he stared at the ground. "I created the Kimeramon program and so I created him as well."

"Ken!" Susanoomon and Davis yelled out at the same time. "How dare you even say that?! You did not create that thing. It created itself and as such you had nothing to do with it!" Davis yelled at his best friend.

"You can not blame yourself for what Myotismon did. I know you made mistakes in the past but you made up for them as well." Susanoomon lectured. "You're not the Digimon Emperor anymore."

"I know, but still. I created that program. I created Kimeramon." Ken said stubbornly.

"Wrong again ken. The Digimon Emperor created Kimeramon. And he died when his lab blew up." Davis said with a firm voice.

"I hope we're not interrupting anything." Tai said a bit annoyed. "But we have a huge eight-headed mutant on the loose that can absorb digimon. Can we save the guilt for later?"

Ken and Davis looked up at Tai. "He's right, I'll feel sorry for myself later. First we need to save the world."

"That's better oh brother of mine." Susanoomon said with proud voice as he walked away.

"Hey get back here Osamu! You have a lot of explaining to do on the way back!" Ken said threateningly.

"I know, I know." Osamu said as he walked back to his little brother. Today would be very long day, he just knew it.

* * *

It's here! Tremble for Orochimon! He is one of my more crazy figments of my imagination combined with some mythology. I don't feel like telling the entire story, so just look Orochi up or something. (You'll then understand his relation with Susanoomon)

And I apologise for the lateness and shortness of this chapter. I had some personal problems and I just couldn't write anything.

Reviews 

Liah Cauthon: Thank you

Martiny the one and only still: Sorry it took so long.

Lord Pata: it always gets worse ;)

Smoochynose: there's a little bit of Apocalymon in it. And yes he is emo but we still love him

Firehedgehog: thanks

Angel of Courage and Kagami of the Mirror: No problem, I'm glad that you reviewed the previous chapter

Hakumei-chan: I know but I didn't like him, so I made a new one. A better one! Plus I had this strange image in my head with Tai wearing a crown ;)

R&R please!


	36. The fight draws near

I'm just a poor boy from Belgium. Maybe someday I'll own the rights to Digimon and make this entire fanfiction into a movie. But untill then: I don't own anything you recognize.

* * *

Spirits of Destiny

Chapter 36

"So where do you think he'll go first?" Tai looked up at Gennai. In order to leave the other edge of the world he had to dedigivolve so he could travel on one of the flying digimon.

And he was NOT amused by the change.

He wasn't used to becoming a mega level so when he tried to dedigivolve he turned into something other then DemiSphinxmon.

"I believe that Orochimon will go after AncientSphinxmon first. He's the closest and the weakest of the ten." Gennai couldn't help but smile at the in-training digimon.

"That makes sense." Tai said. "Gennai, stop staring at me like that."

"How can you not stare at something as cute as yourself?" Mimi asked as she picked him up and held him close. Tai did look rather cute. He was a big ball of black fluff with little feet sticking out under him. Two puppy-dog ears stood straight up on his head.

"I am not cute! I am a ferocious, bad-ass warrior of darkness!" Tai yelled as he flailed his little paws in a desperate attempt to get away from Mimi (even though he liked her holding him like this)

"Sure you are." Sora laughed.

"I am!" Tai argued.

"Everybody shut up or else I'll throw you off!" Garudamon yelled up at her passengers.

"Sorry!" Sora yelled back, still stifling her laugh.

"Can't wait to get back to being Lowemon. I hate this body. I can't even walk properly now and I'm even smaller then when I'm DemiSphinxmon." Tai complained.

"I like you better this way. Much cuter then when you're KingLowemon." Mimi said, still with that smile on her face.

Unwillingly Tai fell asleep in Mimi's arms. The soft rocking from travelling on Garudamon combined with the fatigue caused by his digivolution to mega were to much for him.

Once again he was in the plains of his dreams.

'Damnit! Even in my dreams I'm a pipsqueak!' Tai cursed, not really paying attention to what was happening around him.

'**You look cute though.' **

'Not you to.' Tai groaned as a copy of his champion form came near.

'Seriously, I don't have time to be chatting with you. Myotismon, Orochimon or whatever he calls himself has broken free and is heading to File Island.' Tai said to his other side.

'**Myotismon broke free? Was Lucemon with him?'** His other side looked rather worried about this news.

'Sort of. They combined into something new. Hey! How do you know about Lucemon? Even I didn't know that he was locked in there. '

'**Oops… Shouldn't have said that.' **

'Who are you? Really. And don't give me that 'Digimon-side' crap.' Tai growled as fiercely as he could, which wasn't very fierce at all.

'**Oh well, the fun's over.' **His other side sighed.

'**You know how I told you that I'm a part of you?' **Tai nodded. **'Well I'm part of your digimon side. And your digimon side was provided by...' **He allowed Tai to finish that sentence.

The gears in Tai's head began working overtime.

'AncientSphinxmon?' Tai said hesitantly. His digimon side nodded and faded way, only to return again in the shape of AncientSphinxmon.

'So that's why his voice was so familiar.' Tai murmured. 'So all this time you, AncientSphinxmon, have been spying on me?'

'**Not spying, more sending you in the correct direction. Aiding you with what I know. That kind of stuff. You are my son after all.'**

'No, not really. And to think that you didn't like me.' Tai smirked. 'But now that you're here I might as well warn you. Orochimon, that's what it calls himself now, is coming to File Island. He wants you.'

'**Orochimon?' **AncientSphinxmon looked away.

'**I always knew this day would come.'** The ancient of darkness sighed. **'In a way I'm relieved.'**

'So what? You're glad he's coming for you?' Tai said, eying the image of AncientSphinxmon weirdly.

'**No, it's just that all this time I feared that Lucemon would escape. ****Maybe now he can be destroyed for good.'**

'We'll try.' Tai said. 'Inform me when Orochimon arrives, okay?'

AncientSphinxmon nodded.

'Just one question though. I know you saved my life and stuff but why do you talk to me in my head?' Tai knew that question sounded weird but he just had to know.

'**Tai.' **He started. **'I'm an eons old digimon who hasn't done anything fun in like ten-thousand years.'**

That explained a lot.

'Good answer but I'm still mad about what you nearly did to my sister.' Tai growled again, making AncientSphinxmon burst out into laughter.

* * *

"So how long have you been here?" Ken asked his brother. He had no idea what else to ask him. Actually he had a million questions but he didn't know how to ask them. The idea that his brother was even alive was still foreign to him.

"About ten-thousand years." Susanoomon said calmly.

Davis, Ken, Matt and Gabumon nearly dropped down, ANIME STYLE! The same for Imperialdramon. Luckily he was able to pull himself back up before they crashed into the ocean.

"Serious? How is that even possible?" Ken asked, clearly amazed by the fact that his brother was over ten-thousand years old.

"Simple: you know how the digital timeline was only recently synchronized with the human timeline?"

Matt nodded. "That happened after we saved the digital world the first time."

"Yes, that's when. But I picked up Ken's digi-thingy before that happened. It blasted me with enough digital energy so that when I died I would end up in the digital world." Susanoomon said.

"Gennai found me hanging around here and gave me a new purpose. Which I failed completely." Susanoomon said darkly.

"Question! Why didn't you just go on to whatever is after this world? Why stick around?" Davis asked. "I mean, Tai nearly went to the afterlife after the incident with GearDevimon."

"Honestly: I don't know why I stayed. Maybe I had a higher purpose to serve. Or maybe I just wanted to see my little brother again." Susanoomon said before grabbing Ken into a hold and gave him a noogie.

"Ahh! Quit it! You're scrambling my brain!" Ken laughed as he tried to push his brother away, which as nearly impossible seeing the fact that his digital sibling held the power of nine elements.

* * *

Soon all airborne digimon arrived at File Island.

"What happened here?" Mimi asked as she got off from Garudamon, still holding a sleeping Tai. "I have a suspicion that it had something to do with our new nemisis." BlackAgumon said as he jumped off as well. He had picked up that word somewhere and deemed it appropriate for Orochimon.

The digidestined stared at the barren wasteland that once was File Island. The forest, mountains and everything were still there but seemed…empty.

There wasn't a bird around. No rookie digimon competing each other to see which one was stronger. No gentle Monochromons that tried to eat them.

Nothing.

Just this feeling of emptiness that lingered around.

"This is awful." Kari said as she and Angewomon landed.

"That's the only way to describe this." Angewomon shuddered. Her former master had done this. She would make him pay for this.

"So now what?" Joe asked. "We have absolutely no idea of where to start looking for Orochimon. Hell, AncientSphinxmon might have been found already."

"Orochimon hasn't found him yet." Tai said as he woke up in time to hear Joe.

"How do you know?" BlackAgumon asked curiously.

"You know how I told you about that voice in my head?" Tai responded, though a bit embarrassed that he was currently talking about voices that weren't supposed to be there.

"You mentioned it once or twice." BlackAgumon said as he thought about it.

"That voice is AncientSphinxmon." Tai continued. "Apparently he had nothing better to do then talk to me inside my own head."

"That AncientSphinxmon for ya. Never really liked face to face conversations. If I remember correctly we still haven't finished that game of e-mail chess." Gennai said with a weak smile on his face.

"E-mail chess?" Davis asked. "That means that they play chess by sending each other mails of the turn they make. Those can last months." Everyone turned to Izzy. "What? I've done that a few times to."

"Enough about board games. There's an evil digimon-absorbing eight-headed chicken rip-off on the loose." Matt said, pulling everyone back to the problem. "What are we gonna do about it?"

"Simple." Tai started. "We wait till he arrives at AncientSphinxmon's place and then I'll kick his ass."

"What're you gonna do? Cuddle him to death?" Matt asked as he looked at Tai's tiny form.

"If that'll destroy him, then yes. I will cuddle him to death." Tai said seriously but had trouble keeping a straight face.

"Okay, enough laughing with Tai's new form." Kari started. "We need a plan for attack. We can't just rush in and try to kill Orochimon."

"She's right. We can't expect to just barge in and kill him. I mean he's made up from every evil digimon we've ever faced and more." Joe said, rather calmly but nervous as hell.

"I might know what to do about Orochimon." Gennai said as he reached into his pocket. "This could help us." He held up a red crystal.

* * *

Damn filler. I detest filler but I couldn't do anything to progress the story with out it. And the whole 'AncientSphinxmonTai's digimon side' thing was planned for a long time but I had no idea how to fit it in.

Reviews

Graypheonix: the sovereigns are 'thinks…' on vacation! Yes that's why they cant help 'shifty eyes'

Lord Pata: didn't know that. Looked him up and I like my version better ;)

Martiny the one and only still: I don't know about a sequel yet. We'll see what happens.

DigiGirl96: I picked Orochimon because of his connection to Susanoomon.

And since most people thought immediately about Orochimaru: his name was picked from a legend. Orochi was an eight-headed dragon that demanded a human sacrifice every year. The hero (Susa-no-o) fed him barrels of liquor and got Orochi drunk and killed him. Happy ending!

And I'm glad that so many people like my evil combination of every evil that roamed the earth.

R&R peoples!


	37. The plan

Don't own anything so don't sue me.

* * *

Spirits of Destiny

Chapter 37

"So…" Jun started. Tai had actually forgotten that she was still around so he was a bit surprised when he heard her voice. "How is that glorified marble gonna help us?"

Gennai turned to her. "This 'marble' as you put it, is a soulstone, not unlike the one that imprisoned Orochimon. I made a few changes to it." He glared at her, which was an interesting sight to behold.

"What's different then?" Tai asked, trying to keep the conversation going. It wouldn't do them any good to have a secret weapon if they didn't know what it did.

"I have no idea actually." Gennai said with a smile on his face.

Everyone stared at the old man. "I think it's time to take Gennai to the old folk's home." Davis whispered to Ken, who barely stifled a laugh.

Gennai either didn't hear them or ignored them and continued. "As I said, I made a few changes. In theory it could contain Orochimon but that's just a theory. I don't know if it'll really do that. It could do nothing." Gennai held his hand up to the back of his head and scratched. "I didn't really have time to test it."

"Great, so all we have is an untested weapon against an enemy that's stronger then anything we ever fought before." Matt threw his hands up.

"So what?" TK asked. "If it doesn't work we'll just destroy Orochimon the old fashioned way."

"TK's right." Kari said. "We never needed to contain an enemy before, so we'll just defeat him as any other enemy."

"That's the plan then. We try it and if it fails..." Tai said, looking up at the people around him. "We destroy Orochimon, as we normally would. Let's just hope that Gennai's crystal bal works. Less people will get hurt if we detain Orochimon instantly."

"We have to try it." Mimi said. "I don't want a repeat of our first trip to the Digital World. I don't want to lose anymore friends."

The others nodded in agreement. They had to try it.

"**It's here."**

A familiar voice sprung through Tai's head.

"People!" Tai said before glowing a bright silver light as he transformed into DemiSphinxmon. "It's ShowTime."

* * *

"AncientSphinxmon!" A voice yelled, in an eerily sweet way. "Come out and play!"

Orochimon was currently smashing his steel claw into Mount Infinity. He had figured that the Ancient of Darkness resided there.

The whole army of Shadow digimon was patiently waiting for orders. The digidestined weren't here yet and Orochimon would take care of AncientSphinxmon himself.

A few dots in the distance became visible and grew rather fast.

One of the eight heads on Orochimon's body turned around. The dead eyes that resided in the digimon's skull saw the specks. Myotismon, off course, saw what ever the other heads saw.

"Pathetic minions. Keep those digidestined busy. But don't destroy them." Myotismon snarled, not really believing that those words came from his mouth. But he had to let them live. Broken parts weren't very useful to add to their evergrowing body.

The steel arm dropped down on the mountain again, sending the sound of steel striking stone through the air.

Garudamon came close enough to the mountain. Her digital passengers jumped off from greater height then she had expected. As the three digimon dropped down they yelled out in unison.

**DemiSphinxmon!!**

**BlackAgumon!!**

**Warp-Digivolve to…**

**Kinglowemon!!**

**Machinedramon.**

**Palmon digivolves to Togemon!!**

**Togemon digivolves to… Lilymon!!**

Tai landed rather softly on the cold ground while Machinedramon created a small crater when he landed. Lilymon just flew off as soon as she digivolved.

Other digimon did the same. Tai saw the shapes of Zudomon and MetalGarurumon pop up from two glowing specks in the distance. They had spread out a bit, to surround their enemy.

The Shadow army sprang to life the moment they toughed the ground, sending projectiles flying their way.

They just dodged them, or in Machinedramon's case: took the attack head on. He was made of pure Digi-alloy so the attacks hardly scraped him.

"Move away from here!" Tai yelled like the leader he was. Garudamon nodded and flew up, taking Mimi and Sora with her.

"So, is this what the end of the world is like?" Machinedramon asked as the army of digimon rushed towards them. "Pretty much." Tai said with a broad smile as he adjusted his crown a bit. "But I expected more fire and explosions and stuff like that." Tai lifted his sword and struck down on the first digimon that came within range. It immediatly burst into digital dust. He did the same to a group that charged him.

He felt a bit guilty about doing so. But it was for the greater good. Plus they would all be reborn in the Primary Village, just like Baromon.

"So, do you do this often?" Jun asked Izzy, watching down at the battlefield from on top of their red armoured digimon.

"Once every two or three years." Izzy smiled. "It's a dirty job, but somebody's got to do it."

"I'm glad that I'm here with you Izzy." Jun's voice was serious for once. No sarcasm detectable in her tone.

"So am I."

* * *

"Woo-hoo!" Davis yelled out as Imperialdramon knocked away a volley of attacks heading their way. The attacks were diverted and struck down on Orochimon who yelled in pain but quickly recovered, as if nothing had happened.

"How can you be so… excited at a time like this?" Ken asked the gogglehead. "I mean, we're in serious danger now.

"What you have seemed to forget is that my middle name is Danger!" Davis laughed.

"Really?" Imperialdramon said. "But you told me it was Eleanor." The two voices continued.

Davis turned a bit gloomy as he heard Imperialdramon say that. "You were not supposed to tell anyone about that!"

"Sorry Eleanor." The fusion laughed.

* * *

"So what do you think about all of this?" TK asked his girlfriend. They were currently out of range of any enemy attacks, the fact being that they were like thirty meters above the ground. MagnaAngemon and Angewomon had to fly up here to rest for a while. Flying didn't drain their energy as much as one would think.

"I think we have a good chance to win." Kari smiled. "I had a dream, so I know."

"A dream?" TK asked confused. Kari nodded. "A dream, one in which Orochimon appeared. Off course I didn't know that that monster was Orochimon. But in that dream a warrior appeared and destroyed Orochimon." Kari allowed that information to sink in.

"I think that warrior is Tai."

* * *

"Ahh!!" Joe yelled as he fell from Zudomon. A blast of energy had hit the digimon head-on and caused Joe to trip over one of the spikes on his back.

MetalGarurumon was just on time to catch the doctor-in-training.

"Thanks for that." Joe said with a hoarse voice. "No problem man." Matt said before dropping Joe off on Zudomon again. "I'd rather not scrape you off from the rocks. To much work." Matt grinned before he and MetalGarurumon flew off again.

* * *

"Well this sucks." Yolei complained. "We're hardly helping here. Our digimon are just to weak to do any serious damage. No offence Halsemon."

"None taken." He responded, though a part of him felt insulted.

"Yolei, we are doing the best we can." Cody said as Ankylomon dropped a "Tail Hammer!" on a Shadow's head. "Remember that as long as we fight, we're helping."

* * *

"So my old friend…" Gennai started. "How do you feel?"

"Good for now. But I know it won't be long till my body collapses." Susanoomon held out his hand. "But until then my strength will be greater then before. Give me the SoulStone, so I may use it to undo my failure."

Gennai reluctantly handed it over to the warrior of nine elements. "You sure about this? Sure you won't spend your last hours with your brother?"

"Positive Gennai. If I don't do this my brother won't have a world to live in anymore." Susanoomon blinked away a tear.

"Ken has always followed his destiny. When the Ancients gave me this power they gave me this destiny as well." Susanoomon said before running off towards Orochimon.

"Good luck my friend. May the sovereigns aid you in your task." Gennai said before climbing into his Mekanorimon. If this was the possible end of the world then he wouldn't go down without a fight.

* * *

Tai watched as Gennai got involved into the fight. He was a bit surprised at the amount of control the old man had over his robotic suit. He actuall had to dodge a few of the digimon Gennai threw around.

He also saw how Susanoomon headed towards Orochimon. "Machinedramon! I'm going after Susanoomon, he might need my help." Tai yelled before following the human digimon.

"Wait for me." Machinedramon's voice boomed over the trees as he dropped a digimon he was crushing with his claw.

* * *

Stones dropped down from the mountain. Each strike from Orocimon caused a tremor to be felt throughout the entire mountain.

AncientSphinxmon had enough. Orochimon was bothering when he was trying to have a nap, like any person his age.

Evil hybrid or not, no one interrupted his nap.

A stream of darkness poured out of the mountain. Orochimon was driven back by it.

"So you finally decided to show your face AncientSphinxmon?" Lucemon's head sneered. He had waited long for this day. He remembered it like it was yesterday, that AncientSphinxmon made the final strike, the one that nearly destroyed him.

"Lucemon." The stream of darkness took on a more animalistic shape. "How nice to see you again. You look a bit different though. New haircut?"

"Laugh as much as you want. Soon you will be part of us and then the rest of the Ancients will fall victim to us." Lucemon snapped.

"You sure do love to hear yourself talk, don't you?" AncientSphinxmon joked.

"Aaarghh!" Lucemon let out some inhuman shout of frustration and slammed the metal fist into the ground, where AncientSphinxmon stood a split-second before.

"Hey it looks like AncientSphinxmon showed up as well!" Kari yelled.

"That's AncientSphinxmon?" TK asked a bit hesitantly. He had always believed that dark equalled bad, but the physical manifestation of darkness was fighting on their side. Maybe darkness wasn't so bad after all.

* * *

The final countdown has started. Will Susanoomon be able to lock Orochimon away or will chaos engulf the world as it is slowly absorbed by a bunch of digimon that played with superglue?

Wait and see.

Reviews

Quetzalcoatls: thanks

Martiny the one and only still: you're not the only one, been suffering from a cold since last weak. It just won't go away!

anime25: thanks and I update when I have enough inspiration, so it can always take some time ;)

Beth: Damn! That's a whole lot of questions! I don't know, just wanted him to be. His name is Anubimon but it's not mentioned in this chapter. Maybe but it's fun trying to kill the digidestined. Yes. Yes but they don't talk to him often. The ancients gave him the task of guarding the key. They were experimenting so they could give Tai a new body and I like AncientSphinxmon the best, that's why. Don't know about Susanoomon's other forms.

Tai's other forms are:  
Anubimon (in-training)  
DemiSphinxmon (Rookie)  
Lowemon (champion)  
JagerLowemon (Ultimate)  
KingLowemon (mega)

For the rest: just wait and see. And yes this was indeed a long review.

Lord Pata: I know they're necessary but the piss me off for some reason. And I'm glad they made Oeochimon into a digimon. He's one of my favourite mythological figures.

Firehedgehog: I loved writing them.

Depthmon: Thank you and the pleasure is all mine, team-mate!

Vigatus: it's one of those "hint-hint"

Fruitloop Trooper: Thanks

Coppa-Cola: Thanks and his new form is called Anubimon (You know, Anubis but that was already taken)

Arceumon: thanks for reading and yes, I know I'm not good with lyrics but I had to write something. I'm not that much of an Iced Earth fan but I have one album AND I'm going to see them at Graspop (metal festival)

R&R people!


	38. Trapped

Don't own anything so don't sue me.

* * *

Spirits of Destiny

Chapter 38

"Necro Eclipse!" Twin beams of light were fired from AncientSphinxmon's eyes. They struck down on Orochimon's body, who hardly even flinched.

"Your attacks aren't as powerful as they used to be." Lucemon taunted. "Are we just too strong or are you getting old?"

He shouldn't have said that.

"Are you calling me old? YOU'RE CALLING ME OLD!! AAAAGHH!!" A fierce battlecry, immediately followed by an attack of epic proportions.

"Dark Blast!" A huge orb of darkness formed in front of AncientSphinxmon. Orochimon didn't even have time to say "Oh crap." Before he threw it at them.

"Now who's getting old?" The ancient of darkness said as the smoke cleared up.

"You." Myotismon said. "It appears that your mind doesn't function as well as it used to."

"You forgot that we can't be stopped!" Myotismon cackled.

"Oh, get over yourself." AncientSphinxmon responded. "And while you're at it, pick up some manners as well."

Myotismon decided not to respond to that. Instead he issued another attack. Steel claws flung against AncientSphinxmon's though exterior, causing only minimal damage.

"Is that it? Build from all the evil of the last eight thousand years and all you can do is scratch me?" AncientSphincxmon laughed.

"We can do so much more!" Two voices boomed over the fields of battle.

"A Thousand Nightmares!" The eight heads of Orochimon lined up, each firing dozens of blasts. The projectiles seemed to be made of concentrated miasma.

AncientSphinxmon did his best to dodge all but, as mentioned earlier, he was getting old and was only half as nimble as he used to be. Several beams struck him, most in the chest area.

The plates of steel began to show tiny cracks.

"Still think we can only scratch you?" Myotismon asked once the last beam was fired.

AncientSphinxmon didn't say anything. He was just about to launch a counter-attack when…

"Orochimon!" Susanoomon yelled. The distance between him and the eight-headed freak of nature was great, but his voice was heard crystal clear.

Tai and Machinedramon caught up with him. They moved towards him but Susanoomon held up his hand, signalling them to stay back.

"This is my fight." Was all he said before jumping up in the air.

"You can say what you want about him, but he does know how to make an exit." Tai said as Susanoomon landed and jumped again.

"I concur." Machinedramon said. Tai briefly wondered where he learned that word but banished it from his thoughts. The battle of the century was going on. He didn't have time to worry about Machinedramon's vocabulary.

* * *

Susanoomon landed on a rock between Orochimon and AncientSphinxmon. "You'd better get out of here old man."

"Old man? Who are you calling an old man?" AncientSphinxmon said, obviously insulted but at the same time relieved. He'd never admit it but another of those 'Nightmare' attacks and it would be game over for him.

AncientSphinxmon left the battleground for the safety of the side-lines. Of course there were still some Shadow digimon there (which he gladly crushed).

"It's you and me Orochimon." Susanoomon said, brandishing his sword.

"No kid, soon it'll be just us." Myotismon said obviously indicating the ever growing creature that was Orochimon.

"Keep thinking that." Susanomon said, lifting his sword up higher. His plan was to weaken Orochimon and then use Gennai's SoulStone.

He hoped it worked.

Else they stood little to no chance, unless some miracle happened.

Susanoomon leaped. He leaped like he never leaped before. Sword gleaming in the sun as he brought it down on Lucemon's head.

"Fool."

The sword was grabbed by a steel arm. It and its holder were spun around and thrown away.

Susanoomon landed rather hard on the ground but quickly managed to regain his footing and did a new attempt. This time he kept an eye on where the steel arm was so he could avoid it. It was nearly impossible to avoid the other limbs. Orochimon had like fifty other arms spread across his body.

But those could be destroyed.

A swift strike and two arms were cut off.

Only to be replaced by new ones.

* * *

"This will never work." Tai commented. "He'll be cutting arms for days. Orochimon will just keep on growing them back."

"He needs help." Machinedramon said, once again with a monotone voice. The steel dragon lifted his cannon.

A red beam of energy was launched. It struck one of the heads, which exploded but was replaced by a rather familiar one.

"Ain't that GearDevimon?" Tai smirked. "This one's mine!" He yelled, remembering his promise to Baromon.

Susanoomon saw help coming from those he forbad to help. It was his fight.

But help is always appreciated.

He saw how Tai lobbed off the head of GearDevimon and grinned as it faded away.

Susanoomon attacked once more, this time much easier given the fact that Orochimon was bombarded with energy blasts and sword-strikes.

"Pathetic." Myotismon said as he knocked Tai and Susanoomon away with his steel arm. Tai landed rather hard on the ground while Susanoomon landed on his feet. "You keep believing that you can defeat us. You cling to that hope but you all know it's a lie." Myotismon ranted.

"You all know that sooner or later you'll join us." Lucemon continued. "That the entire world will become part of us."

"Less talking." Tai said as he crawled out of the huge KingLowemon-shaped crater. "More fighting." Susanoomon continued.

"Fools." Myotismon sighed.

"A Thousand Nightmares!" He and Lucemon screamed. 'Perfect.' Susanoomon thought as he dodged the beams.

Tai had some more trouble dodging the beams then Susanoomon and as such was hit by at least twenty before Machinedramon stepped up and used his steel body to shield Tai.

"Thanks man." Tai panted. Machinedramon just nodded, ignoring the damage done by the beams. He hardly felt them but they were damaging the steel plates that build his body.

Orochimon's attacks stopped. A thousand beams of darkness, well that drained your strength. No digimon could handle an attack of such magnitude without growing a bit tired.

This was the moment that Susanoomon was waiting for. He only had a few seconds.

He pulled the SoulStone out of seemingly nowhere.

Tai, Machinedramon and all the other spectators saw what was happening in slow-motion. The orb sailed through the air, its target obvious.

It struck Orochimon in the chest.

In a flash of light it activated. The orb glowed a bright red colour before doing something…

It acted like a vacuum. That was the only way to describe it.

Slowly but surely Orochimon was pulled in.

"No!!" Lucemon yelled, having figured out what was happening. "Not again!"

"If we'll be trapped again we will take some company with us!" Myotismon laughed, mentally ordering all Shadow digimon to run towards the orb. It grew with every digimon that entered.

Tai was having some trouble staying put. The force of the orb was way to strong. Luckily Gennai didn't test this thing earlier. Else they'd be the ones trapped. He slammed his sword into the ground, using it as an anchor.

Tai watched as Shadow digimon after Shadow digimon disappeared into the orb. He felt sorry for them. He knew how it felt to do something you didn't want to do.

He never saw it coming.

Orochimon did another attack before getting sucked in. Another Thousand Nightmares was fired at them. it laughed like a maniac as they were pulled in and dissapeared from sight.

Susanoomon had moved far enough to be safe from the blasts. He saw how they all moved towards random directions. A lot of them were heading towards Tai.

They struck the ground Tai was standing on. His sword broke lose from the ground and soon the warrior of darkness was lifted into the air and pulled towards the orb.

Machinedramon did an attempt to catch Tai. He failed. He watched helplessly as Tai disappeared into the orb as well.

"No, not this time!" He yelled before following Tai.

The orb kept expanding.

And then suddenly.

It stopped. It closed up again.

It was huge by now. It was at least two times as big as Infinity Mountain.

"Taichi!" Kari yelled as Angewomon landed next to the orb. She began hitting it, trying to contact her trapped brother, but in a way she knew that he couldn't hear her.

"Gennai!" Mimi yelled at the old man. "How do you plan on getting Tai out of there? I swear if you don't get him out I'll kill you!" By now the old man was cowering.

"He can't get out." Gennai said, recovering from Mimi's attack.

"I changed it so it can't be destroyed from the inside." He continued. He saw faces of the digidestined grow even more teary.

"We can't leave him in there." Matt said. "Yeah, Tai doesn't deserve to be trapped inside this forever." TK added. TK had known from the start that this was a bad idea. In a way this had all been a huge waste of time.

Everyone fells silent for a minute.

Gennai was the first to start talking again. "But as I said: it can't be destroyed from the inside. I didn't say anything about the outside."

* * *

Tai felt like he had been hit by a truck. Twice. And then the truck driver got out of his truck and jumped on him a few times.

He did an attempt at getting up. He had a headache but stood up firmly after a few tries.

He scanned his surroundings. It was red. Everything. The walls, the floor. Red. Build up from a strange crystal like material.

The last thing Tai remembered was how he got sucked into the orb.

"Oh great, I'm inside the orb!" He yelled in frustration.

"You're not the only one." Machinedramon said. Tai hadn't noticed him yet. "Why did you jump in after me?" Tai asked as he vaguely remembered that.

"I had noting better to do." Machinedramon said. "Plus I didn't want to leave you alone with that." He pointed his trident-like arm at Orochimon, who was currently trying to fix himself up. The army of digimon was spread across the orb and seemed to have no idea what had happened to them.

"Aaaaaaaaaaghhh!" Myotismon screamed. "He did it again!"

"We'll just break out again. even if it takes us another eight-thousand years." Lucemon said, venom in his voice. "And then I'll rip that old man apart."

"Uh, you do know that Susanoomon trapped you here, right?" Tai asked, actually amused by the created confusion.

"You're here to?" Myotismon said. "Great, hell just got worse."

"At least we'll have something to destroy this time." Lucemon smirked.

"Crap." Tai sighed.

* * *

Sorry it took so long! I needed some time to decide where I was heading with this story. I had two options: 1- I wrote the version I wanted but then I couldn't write a sequel or 2- I write an other version so I can do a sequel.

I chose nr.2.

Again sorry it took so long and that it's so short.

And next chapter will be much more interesting (I hope)

By the way, can anyone spot the movie quote?

Reviews

Liah Cauthon: ain't that the Japanese name for JagerLowemon?

Beth: Ancientsphinxmon can contact him whenever he wants (usually when he's bored) and the whole trap thing is just a plot for me to create an even more evil villain (coming next chapter) Firehedgehog: that might show up some time 'hint-hint'

Coppa-Cola: don't worry, they will ;)

Vigatus: as I said the Sovereigns are on vacation and the Ancients are on their way! But they're old so it'll take a while…

Depthmon: thanks you

Martiny the one and only still: hope you're better by now. And now I'm sick. Again! damn weather in Belgium is acting strange. It's way to warm and I'm running into a heavy case of hay fever. Heat + hay fever almost dead author.

Angel of Courage and Kagami of the mirror: they will show up sooner or later

terracannon876: thank you for the compliment and English isn't my first language but it helps that Dutch (what we speak here) looks a lot like English. And it's actually AnubiSmon that's a real digimon ;)


	39. Beginning of the end

Don't own anything so don't sue me.

* * *

Spirits of Destiny

Chapter 39

"Well this sucks." Tai muttered. He was now trapped in a cage and the only company he had were Machinedramon and that freak that called himself Orochimon.

"A Thousand Nightmares!" Orochimon used the ,by now familiar, attack causing Tai to look rather annoyed. "Although this sucks more."

Tai did his best to dodge all the attacks but that is rather hard with Shadow digimon blocking your way. Apparently Orochimon didn't care much about his minions. He blew up at least a few dozen.

It was a rather weird sight to behold as the data of those digimon travelled up…

And just came down again and formed a digi-egg.

There really was no escape from this place. No way out, not even when you got deleted.

As always Orochimon's attacks stopped, giving Tai a small chance to attack. He did so, chopping off two heads. But they just grew back. They always grew back.

"Pathetic creature." Myotismon smirked. "Have you not realised that we can't be defeated? Why don't you just give up and join our noble cause."

"Not gonna happen snake." Tai replied, holding his sword up again. "Fool, so unwise." Lucemon said before unleashing another attack.

* * *

"So Gennai, what you do you suppose we can do about this?" Matt said, looking up at the crystal. It was huge and if you squinted your eyes just right you could see two huge shapes within the stone.

"Simple. Since we can't allow Tai to stay in there for the rest of his never-ending life." He started. "We'll just crack it open, letting Tai out. Orochimon will then be taken care of by a full-out attack."

"You're a mad man Gennai." Matt muttered. "Well, you heard the old guy." He said louder.

"Let's crack this thing open."

Zudomon started the whole deal with a swift strike of his hammer. The force he put on that hammer could have smashed through a tank as if it were made of wet cardboard, yet it hardly made a dent in the crystal.

He just tried again, and again, and again.

Others joined in the attack of the prison. MetalGarurumon's missiles made somewhat more of a dent but still it seemed like an useless effort. At this rate they'd never break through the though shell.

Another volley of attacks came from the wide collection of digimon but still the surface remained without a scratch. Just a few dents in it.

"Great, any other ideas?" Joe asked the others.

"Can we help?" A voice said from behind them. A voice that AncientSphinxmon hadn't heard in twenty years.

"About time that you'd show up!" He yelled at the newcomers.

* * *

"So…any ideas on what to do now?" Tai asked as he landed on Machinedramon's head.

"We wait." The hulking machine said. "He's getting tired. It won't take long before he collapses."

Tai looked at Orochimon. The creature was looking tired. It was panting with eight heads at once and his movements had become sluggish.

"I think you might be right." Tai said. He jumped down again and lifted his sword. In a swift motion he was over by the snake and did an upwards slash, effectively destroying an arm or five.

"I just told him to wait." Machinedramon would have slapped his forehead if it weren't for the huge claw he had. If he did slap himself, he'd probably pierce his own armor.

"Pathetic." Lucemon whispered. His energy was running low. Soon their being would fall and then their goal for revenge would never be fulfilled. They'd never unite the world into one majestic being. "We are invincible!"

They couldn't fail now.

"You can never destroy us! I won't allow you to!" Lucemon cackled.

"Shadow digimon!" Myotismon yelled at his minions. The creatures turned their heads to their master before starting a steady march towards Orochimon.

"What is he up to?" Tai said to himself as he stepped back to Machinedramon. "I told you to wait." The machine said. "You should know by now that I don't know that word." Tai allowed a quick smile to grace his face.

As soon as he did so he heard laughter. The maniacal, 'I'm about to destroy the world'-kind of laughter.

He turned back to Orochimon and looked in terror as he saw what it was doing.

One by one the Shadow digimon were absorbed by the greater digimon. One by one they disappeared into the ever growing Orochimon.

"You know what?" Tai said to Machinedramon. "What?"

"We're screwed." Tai looked at the mass of digimon. "Big time."

* * *

"Took all of you long enough to show up." AncientSphinxmon said, an annoyed tone clear in his voice.

"We're old damn it! You should be glad that we even showed up!" AncientGarurumon, the Ancient of light said, holding his sword in a threatening way. "And I'm damn glad to see you again!"

"The same here." An aerial digimon, AncientBeetlemon, the Ancient of thunder, said as he landed next to AncientGarurumon.

"We all noticed something was wrong and decided to investigate. Did we miss all the fun?" AncientGreymon, the Ancient of fire, said as he dropped from the sky. "I've been waiting to kick some evil digimon ass for like forever!"

"How did they know something was wrong?" Kari asked the old man standing next to her. Gennai chuckled. "They're the Ancients. The living embodiments of the elements. If something is wrong with the world they're the first to know."

"Seriously, it's been way…" AncientGreymon would have continued complaining if it weren't for the fact that the ground beneath them began to shake.

A striking sound was heard and the ground cracked under their feet. Those with wings flew up again and those who didn't just leaped away.

"Am I at Infinity Mountain?" A head popped out of the hole. "This is like my fifth stop. "

"Welcome old friend." AncientSphinxmon smirked as AncientVolcamon, the Ancient of earth, climbed out of the hole.

"Who are you calling old!?" The Ancient of Earth snapped as he turned his head towards the digidestined. "Eh, I'm standing here." AncientSphinxmon said, poking AncientVolcamon's shoulder with his enormous paw.

"Okay, so maybe I am getting a bit old. I mean, I can barely see now." He turned to the Ancient of darkness. "I had to ask directions to this place. It was a bit hard seeing the fact that most digimon here seemed to have left."

"I know! Most digimon from this plae escaped to Server and sought refuge with AncientKazemon. That's why she couldn't make it." AncientBeetlemon said, rather annoyed. "She cares to much about them, you know."

The Ancients chatted away while the digidestined just stared at them.

"So that's where the digimon dissapeared to." TK muttered. At least they were still around and not absorbed by Orochimon.

"You know, I had expected them to be much more…" Gatomon said, looking for the right word. "Impressive?" Palmon suggested.

"That's it. They don't seem very impressive. They're all acting so…old." Gatomon continued.

"Did she just call us old?" One of the Ancients said.

"Not this again." Gennai sighed.

"Okay listen up!" Matt suddenly yelled. "As you noticed something is wrong with the world. That something is Orochimon."

The Ancients seemed a bit insulted by Matt's yelling but listened to him anyway as he continued his story. Matt told them how Orochimon was their former nemesis, but fused with more evil digimon that you could imagine.

Matt told how Tai and Machinedramon along with hundreds of innocent digimon got locked inside with Orochimon.

"So what you're saying is that we, the Ancients, use our power to break open that thing, knock some sense into Orochimon and thus save the world once more?" AncientVolcamon asked, sorting the facts.

All the digidestined nodded.

"Sure, why not. Haven't smashed anything in a month." They all decide not to ask what that meant.

Soon the Ancients started their own attacks, along with those of the digidestined digimon.

"This isn't really working, is it?" Izzy asked Gennai. "They may be old but they're still the most powerful digimon around. And you'd be surprised by what a barrage of attacks like these can do." Gennai laughed as he spotted a tiny crack beginning to form on the surface of the crystal.

* * *

Within the crystal, Tai didn't have much reason to laugh.

Orochimon had decide that he needed even more power then he already had. He was busy absorbing every digimon there was in the orb, sans Machinedramon and himself. Even the digi-eggs fell victim.

Eventually every digimon was gone. All except the two good guys and a massive blob of digimon parts.

Silence reigned for a few minutes. Tai had absolutely no idea of what he had to do now. The thing before him was three times as big as it was before. It had no head and was just parts of digimon glued together. There was no beginning or ending.

It was horrible, like a nightmare came true. And then it spoke.

"WE…ARE…LEGIONMON…" The voice boomed through the crystal and Tai was sure it could be heard outside as well.

"FOR…WE... ARE... MANY…"

"Great, he decide to go biblical on us." Tai said, looking in fear at the creature. 'No, snap out of it. I'll be afraid when I'm dead.' He thought.

'**Like that's going to happen anytime soon.'**

'AncientSphinxmon!' Tai yelled back at the voice. 'Something bad happened.'

'**Let me guess: the bad guy just got worse?'**

'Oh yeah.'

'**Don't worry. Me and my crew are gonna bust your ass out of there, so hang on just a bit longer.' **AncientSphinxmon laughed.

'I don't even want to know what 'crew' you have.' Tai said, closing the link with AncientSphinxmon rather roughly. He was having a lot of trouble dodging Legionmon's attacks. It was like 'A Thousand Nightmares' but then ten times worse.

He dodged. He deflected. He rolled out of the way. But it was no use. Thousands upon thousands blasts were fired from the mass of digimon. There was no stopping it.

He saw how Machinedramon was struck with each and every attack fired his way. He was simply to big to dodge them. Tai yelled as Machinedramon fell to the ground, armor torn in several places.

Tai yelled in anger and charged at Legionmon. He knew that he'd never get out here alive. Not even if AncientSphinxmon helped him. Legionmon would escape and possibly destroy the world. But he were to die here he'd give the maniacal thing HELL!

His sword slashed and cleaved through the blob. But it was no use. Whatever attacks he used hardly damaged it.

Tired and worn out Tai stopped for a second. That one second was enough. Legionmon undertook a new attack.

Tai was struck. Hundreds of times he felt the beams pierce his body.

Slowly Tai slumped to the ground, oblivious to the sound of cracking crystal. Oblivious to the screams of his friends.

Only one thought went through his head as he fell.

'I…have…failed.'

* * *

Is this the end of Tai? Find out on the next chapter of Spirits of Destiny!!

By the way, I only used my favorite Ancients, else there woud have been chaos in my brain, trying to write all ten of them!

Reviews

terracannon876: indeed. And glad you liked it

Vigatus: She's gonna finish him off anyway ;)

Smoochynose: Thank you. I never expected to write so many. Almost 40!

Depthmon: indeed. But as seen above: when I'm the author, hell ain't bad enough.

Firehedgehog: I am honoured!

Super garurumon: indeed, it does suck to be Tai

Fruitloop Trooper: thanks

Beth: mentioned somewhere in the chapter. And sorry I missed that question. ShadowWereGarurumon won't remember what happened. All Shadow digimon forget what happened when they were possessed. Hope your sister feels better by now. I'm still sick, a rather nasty cold-like disease.

Martiny the one and only still: I didn't kill him that badly ;)

GRX3m0m: thank you

Saint Vegeta: that might happen

Coppa-Cola: I love plot twists! Was this one good enough?(I mean Legionmon)

R&R please!


	40. Two souls, fighting as one

Don't own anything so don't sue me

* * *

Spirits of Destiny

Chapter 40

'_It's all over.' Tai thought as he fell deeper and deeper into darkness. 'The world and everyone in it are lost.'_

_'Not yet.' A soft voice, barely a whisper, was heard._

_'It's hopeless.' Tai thought, ignoring the voice._

_'You're not giving up are you? Is the great and mighty Tai a quitter?' Same voice, only louder._

_'Who dares call me a quitter?' Tai fumed, immediately pulled out of his dark thoughts._

_'Me.' A shape stepped out of the shadows of Tai's mind. 'Serious, never thought you'd give up Tai.'_

_'Baromon? But how can you be here?' Tai asked, stunned by the appearance of his deleted friend._

_'I don't know, how do those tiny people fit into that TV?' He said as he shrugged a bit._

_'But that's not the point. The point is that you can not give up.' Baromon said with a serious tone of voice. 'As they say, it's only over when it's over.'_

_'You're right Baromon.' Tai said. 'Aren't I always?' He responded with a smile._

Baromon faded away as Tai returned to the world of the conscious people.

He blinked his eyes a few times. All he saw was red crystal, seeing the fact that he had fallen face-down onto the ground.

Tai struggled to get up. He used his sword to push himself to his feet.

Once he regained his footing he nearly lost it again. Tai had to rely on his sword to hold him up as his legs held little to no energy.

He saw what damage had been done while he was knocked out. The others had showed up. He vaguely remembered them yelling his name. They were all fighting Legionmon.

But the digimon looked exhausted. Tai knew that they couldn't hold out very long. Legionmon was just to much.

'No!' He mentally screamed. 'Can't think like that. There is always a way to win.'

Tai thought of all possibilities he had. Most weren't doable, the fact being that he was barely able to stand up straight.

He needed a miracle.

* * *

"Hang on Angewomon!" Kari yelled at her heavenly friend. She was currently doing her best to score a hit against Legionmon. But the hybrid just batted her attacks away, sending them towards the walls or, worse, towards her team-mates.

* * *

Tai had an idea of sorts. Not that it would really work so he just thought of an other. But his mind quickly wandered off towards something much more important.

'Machinedramon.'

Tai slowly walked over towards the fallen body of his friend. More then once did he trip over his own feet.

But it didn't matter.

He had to get to his friend.

* * *

"Positron Laser!" The combined form of Veemon and Wormmon yelled as they send forward a devastating attack.

But Legionmon was barely grazed by it.

Again and again they launched that attack but it was no good. They only thing they did was tire themselves out.

"This is hopeless." Davis said with panic clear in his voice . "There is no way we can win."

'_Smack'_

"Thanks Ken, I needed that." Davis said, clenching his sore check.

"No problem man."

* * *

Tai's pace grew faster as he approached the machine-like creature. He mentally cursed himself for doing so, as the pain in his legs grew.

Yet, he just marched on.

* * *

Zudomon was, just like all the others, doing his best to inflict damage on Legionmon but it seemed impossible. No weapon would harm it. Its skin was to thick.

"This is bad Joe." Zudomon said to the blue-haired human on his back.

"I noticed." Joe said, a bit annoyed with his partner digimon stating the obvious.

* * *

Metalgarurumon dodged the tentacles coming from Legionmon. Again and again did he dive under them, between them or when all else failed: through them. But even he wasn't fast enough to escape a barrage of tentacles.

Matt watched in horror as Metalgarurumon was lifted into the air, ready to be integrated into the being.

A swift strike.

The tentacles holding MetalGarurumon were sliced up and faded away.

"Thanks MagnaAngemon." MetalGarurumon growled.

"No prob." Said angel responded, before flying off again, to save others from unwanted attempts at fusion.

* * *

Tai finally managed to carry his broken body to Machinedramon. As he got there he collapsed against the huge creature.

He leaned against the half-melted creature. "Still got some fight in you?"

"I don't think so." Machinedramon's voice was distorted, as if Tai heard him through a pair of really old speakers.

"Sure? No back-up generators or such?" Tai smiled a half smile at that. Machinedramon chuckled softly at that.

* * *

"Lilymon! Watch out!" Mimi yelled from an top off Garudamon. Lilymon dodged the flailing tentacles and launched a counter-attack. But nothing she threw at Legionmon hurt him.

"Just stand back flowergirl. Let me handle this." AncientBeetlemon said as he flew up in front of Legionmon. Lilymon decided to comply and stepped back.

"Calamity Thunder!" The huge beetle-like creature yelled, sending forth a storm that fired thunder bolts at random. All attacks were dead-on but as any attack before it just bounced off.

"Okay. Did not see that coming." The Ancient said as he dodged one of the reflected bolts.

"You sure handled him." Lilymon said, rolling her eyes.

"Shut up." AncientBeetlemon said as he did another try.

* * *

"This isn't working." Izzy said as he jumped down from MegaKabuterimon's hand.

"He's right. We need a new strategy or else we're toast." Joe said, joining the group of digidestined.

"Okay, so what do we know about it?" Matt asked. "Besides the obvious." He added as he saw the Ancients fight alongside their own digimon to keep the ball of parts away from them.

"It's skin is nearly impenetrable, it can strike us with tentacles that attempt to absorb us and it doesn't like us." Davis said, adding his two cents.

"How do you destroy an enemy with armor as thick as steel that absorbs anything it touches." Yolei asked, thinking out loud a bit as she pondered said question.

"From the inside." Cody suddenly said.

Everyone thought about it. "It seems like an option." Ken said. "But then there's the question of how?"

Kari would have thought about that but was distracted by something else. The still form of her brother was gone. "Where's Tai?"

Everyone flinched. They had nearly forgotten about their leader.

They all looked relieved when they saw his still form sitting next to Machinedramon.

Mimi had run over to him as the others thought about their next step some more.

Eventually Joe cracked. "It's useless! How on earth are we going to defeat that thing??" Joe held his hands to his head.

"He's right. Nothing can get inside it without getting absorbed and nothing can destroy its outer shell. We need a miracle." TK said, adjusting his hat a bit.

Davis suddenly had a light-bulb hanging above his head. Actually it was a stray attack of light that passed over him but the effects were the same.

He pulled out his D-terminal and opened it up. "No, not this one." He muttered. "Not that one either. This one! I knew it would show up!" He yelled out.

The others looked at him in surprise and in some cases annoyance. "Davis!" Yolei was one of those cases. "What the hell are you yelling about?"

Davis just grinned as he pushed a button on his D-terminal and something familiar popped out of it. "I thought you wanted a miracle." He smirked.

* * *

"Tai?" Mimi asked softly. The still form moved a bit, showing that he heard her. "Mimi?"

Mimi nodded. She stepped up to him. "Are you okay?"

"I feel drained but I'll live." He chuckled.

"You know we might not get out of here alive?" Mimi said as she climbed up his much taller chest.

"Don't say that. We'll pull through. We always pull through." Tai said as he looked into her eyes. "Besides with you supporting me I feel like I can take on a hundred Legionmon." Tai said as he tried to get up but failed miserably. "Okay, maybe just fifty."

Mimi laughed just before leaning in closer. If she were to die today the least she could do was enjoy one more kiss with her boyfriend, even if he was like three times as tall as she was.

"Hey Tai!" Someone yelled, causing Mimi to jump up and nearly loose her grip on Tai's shoulder.

"Did I interrupt something?" Davis asked. "Idiot." Yolei said, slapping the back off his head in the process.

"Anyway." Davis said, rubbing the huge bump on his head. "We all know you have a knack for the impossible."

Tai smirked. He HAD defied death for like two, three times.

"So we thought of this." Davis held out something. Something made of pure gold, which shone with a light that most people would never see.

"Take it." Davis said. "It's a long shot but if anyone can do it's you."

"But it belongs to you. I can't use it." Tai responded as he looked at the Digi-egg.

"Actually since you're the digidestined of courage and Davis here is the digidestined of courage and friendship, you should be able to use it as well." Izzy explained.

"Okay, okay. Just hand…"

He was interrupted by a voice booming through the crystal.

"We grow tired of this." Legionmon spoke with a voice no man should ever hear. "All of you will become part of us now."

'Crap.' Was the most common thought amongst the digidestined as Legionmon's circular form began to grow spikes. If you looked closer you'd see that those spikes were horns, swords and claws from the digimon they absorbed.

The ting began rolling in its place, building up momentum for his next attack.

"Now Davis! Now!" Kari yelled as the thing was nearly at full capacity.

"One miracle coming up!" Davis handed the Digi-egg of Miracles to Tai, who instantly pushed it against Machinedramon.

A flash of light engulfed the crystal as Legionmon launched itself.

* * *

Tai felt wonderful. That was the only way to describe it. Energy like he had never known before rushed through his veins.

Besides him, in the white plains he currently found himself, stood Machinedramon. He didn't look like the molten machine of a moment ago. No, the steel plates that created his body seemed to have turned to silver.

With a simple nod both knew what to do.

* * *

Kari screamed as the huge ball of flesh rolled towards them. In a moment everything would be over.

She closed her eyes, waiting for the attack though all the while hoping their plan worked.

There came no strike.

She opened her eyes to see a ball of light holding Legionmon back.

Out of the ball of light she heard two familiar voices.

**"Machinedramon!"**

**"KingLowemon!"**

**"DNA-digivolve to…"**

**"Fenrirmon!"**

The ball of light exploded and in it's centre floated a new figure. One that was covered in steel plates, carved with runes that the Digital World hadn't seen for millennia. It's left hand was shaped like Machinedramon's head while his right hand was more like JagerLowemon's head. His helmet was a rather neutral-looking piece of equipment. From his back protruded a set of jet-black angelic wings.

All and all he looked like a slightly corrupted version of Omnimon. He was about the same size as well.

"Wow."

"I didn't see that coming."

"That's one hell of a miracle."

The digidestined digimon decided to step back for a moment. They had no idea where this 'Fenrirmon' came from but he was on their side. They felt it.

"Shadow sword!" Fenrirmon yelled as the lion's head opened its maw. Shadows spewed forth from it and formed a blade. One that looked even more deadly then KingLowemon's. Black steel that just radiated power.

He struck it down onto the now still Legionmon. It cut through his skin. Not as easily as you would expect from such a sword but it was enough.

Legionmon's voice boomed again. "Impressive. Not one of you have been able to scratch us, yet you do it with ease."

His face wasn't visible but it you could see it, you'd see a smirking Fenrirmon.

"Our offer still stands."

"Hell no." Fenrirmon said calmly as he brought up his other arm. "Triple-barrelled Cannon!" Machinedramon's mouth swung open. Shadows poured out and formed a three-barrelled canon, one that was build up from all three of Machinedramon's blasters.

With his sword he cut through the already healed skin and with the cannon he fired three bolts of light into the open wound.

A huge explosion was the unavoidable result.

"Did it work?" Sora asked while the others held their breath in suspense. A huge smoke cloud had engulfed Legionmon, so it was impossible to tell whether it was gone or not.

"Fools. A weak attack like that can't stop us." Legionmon spoke calmly before it started the spinning ball attack again. He was still covered in smoke but you could hear the many horns and swords grinding on the crystal floor.

Legionmon rolled forward again, aiming at the digidestined.

Zudomon would have done something to stop it but AncientGreymon stopped him. "Don't. This is their fight." Zudomon decided to listen to the much more powerful digimon.

Fenrirmon flew in front of Legionmon, who slammed into him. Most humans looked away, to avoid seeing what might happen next.

A cry of pain, signalling a great amount of strength being summoned was heard as Fenrirmon knocked Legionmon back.

"Wow." AncientSphinxmon said. "This is like _the_ battle of the century." He said as Fenrirmon continued his attacks on the ball of flesh.

"Great, and I just have to be blind when it happens." AncientVolcamon muttered. An explosion was heard. "What happened?"

"To much to describe man." AncientVolcamon grumbled. "When this all is over I'm going to kick your ass AncientSphinxmon!"

"Yeah right.." Said dark digimon rolled his eyes.

* * *

Fenrirmon forced his opponent back but knew that he wouldn't be able to keep it at bay forever. He needed to finish this. And fast as he felt his energy slip from him slowly.

"Titanic Tempest Strike!" Fenrirmon yelled, forcing his energy into the tip of his sword. As he did so it glowed a silver colour. He then leapt at his target, spinning around in the process, quickly turning into a horizontal hurricane.

He slammed into Legionmon, which roared in pain as the sword ripped through its flesh again and again. He had difficulty with healing the damage fast enough to keep Fenrirmon's attack from striking his core. If that happened it would be game over for them.

Legionmon pumped some extra energy in his own attack and began spinning again, trying to force Fenrirmon away.

Which worked like a charm.

Fenrirmon was launched and landed rather hard against the edge of the crystal, where it had been broken.

* * *

'This isn't good.' Kari thought. 'Tai and Machinedramon look tired.' Fenrirmon stood up, shaking a bit from energy depletion. 'If only there was a way to-'

"Off course!" She yelled out, causing the tensed others to jump up. "What is it?" TK asked.

"This!" She pulled out her digivice. "We've used this before to transfer energy, right?"

TK caught her drift and pulled out his own digivice. The others followed swiftly.

Beams of light burst from them and launched themselves at Fenrirmon. "Is that normal?" Jun asked as she tightened her grip on the device. "It has a habit of doing that at times like these." Izzy explained.

Fenrirmon's body shone like pure gold. His energy levels rising beyond his normal limits.

"Come on Tai! Machinedramon! We believe in you!" A few people yelled while one girl yelled: "Kick its ass Tai!"

"Your time is up Legionmon!" Fenrirmon did as he did before, sending every ounce of energy into his sword. This one had to be it.

"Titanic Tempest Strike!" Fenrirmon yelled and for a second Mimi thought she had heard Tai's voice in that battle-cry. 'You better come back to me Tai.'

The now golden whirlwind attack was stronger then before. With unsurpassed speed it headed towards its target.

Legionmon was hit head-on. It screamed as Fenrirmon's attack drilled into its very core, shredding it to pieces.

"You may destroy me now." It groaned. "But we will always be there. We will rise again …" It said before bursting into data.

Joe opened his eyes and blinked. "Is it over?"

"I think it is." Matt said, acting all cool again.

"Ya-hoo!" Davis jumped up and down. "Tai did it! Tai did it!"

Mimi stared at the scene of destruction. All that was left off Legionmon was a black orb, floating at shoulder's height.

"Where's Tai? And Machinedramon?"

* * *

Just one more cliff-hanger, for old time's sake.

It's almost over! Next time it's the epilogue, which should be up be Sunday or so.

Reviews

Fruitloop Trooper: the same. I don't know why but I just love it

Smoochynose: sorry it took so long

Beth: I forget details like that sometimes.

Super garurumon: actually I'm getting worse by the day. Doc says it should be cured in a week or so.

Lord Pata: glad you're back and yes: I enjoy torturing him ;)

Graypheonix: never read those. The problem being: Belgium. We barely get any manga or anime here. 'Roars with a thousand voices at once'

Depthmon: lol, that made me laugh. Didn't have a name for Legionmon's attack.

Firehedgehog: People keep saying that (or they threaten to kill me) and it's boy actually

Vigatus: sorry, but they never do. Maybe one day I'll write a fanfic where they do…

Coppa-Cola: it is! And I know it's overused but I just love that quote

anime25: sorry it took so long

digimon1010: thank you

rose: damn! That's one hell of a review! Don't worry, randomness is good! And I know Sora/Tai is the most common pairing but to me they're best friends, nothing more. I try my best to keep characters as in character as possible. Just glad you kept on reading instead of giving up on it.

About KingLowemon: I think I described him somewhere but I'm not really good with descriptions. I'll try again. Kinglowemon is a bigger version of Lowemon, roughly the size of Optimus Prime from the 2007-movie. His armor is covered in digital runes and he wears a crown on his head.

And DemiSphinxmon is about right, only he's a bit bigger then Salamon, roughly the size of Patamon. His in-training form will get some more attention later (hint-hint)

Never had any major problems with the site so I don't know what to do to help you. Hope it's just a site-error.


	41. Epilogue

Don't own anything!

* * *

Spirits of destiny

Epilogue

"He's gone. Again." Mimi stated with a soft voice. "Why does he keep doing that?"

"The two of them must have used to much energy to destroy Legionmon." Gennai said. "Don't worry to much, Tai and Machinedramon will show up sooner or later in the Primary Village."

"You're right! Lets' get going then!" Mimi said and hurried to the exit of the crystal.

"Hold your horses. It may take a long time before Tai even gets there and possibly even more before he hatches." Gennai said, causing the girl to stop in her tracks.

"Don't worry Mimi." Kari said as she put a hand on the girl's shoulder. "Tai will come back. He always comes back."

Mimi just had a sad smile on her face.

"She's right Mimi." TK said as he joined in on the conversation. "I have a feeling we haven't seen the last of Goggle-head."

Both Mimi and Kari slapped him playfully.

"Hey that hurt!"

* * *

"It's all over mon!" Veemon yelled. He and Wormmon had just split up again and he danced around in joy.

"So Angewomon, how about a kiss for one of the heroes?" Veemon asked eagerly.

"Sure." Said the angelic women as she walked towards Veemon. And then past him towards MagnaAngemon.

"WHAT?" Veemon exclaimed as Angewomon pressed her lips onto those of the other, a bit more surprised angel.

"At least this time you didn't faint." She said as she broke away from MagnaAngemon.

'_Bam'_

"No." MagnaAngemon said." But he did." He pointed at an unconscious Veemon.

"He'll get over it." Angewomon laughed.

* * *

"So now we're down one team member again." Joe sighed. "Two actually. Don't forget BlackAgumon." Izzy added.

"Great, just great." Joe said.

"Oh relax Joe. They'll be back." Gomamon said, after dedigivolving.

"Yeah, yeah I know." Joe said as he jumped out of the cracked orb and landed on soft, normal ground.

* * *

Two figures stood where Legionmon had been before he was defeated.

"Just take it Susanoomon." AncientSphinxmon said as he pointed at the orb floating in front of them. "Else you'll probably detonate."

Susanoomon sighed and grabbed the orb. Immediately he felt the power of light being suppressed, restoring the balance once more.

"You sure that wasn't Tai's bit?" The warrior asked again.

"Positive. Tai's part was deleted with him and will be reborn with him. Legionmon could never hold this power for long." AncientSphinxmon sighed. He had lost a son today. Okay, so maybe that son didn't really like him but still…

* * *

"So what are we going to do with this crystal thingy?" Davis asked once they were outside again.

"The fact is that my place was destroyed." The Ancient of darkness pointed at the smashed mountain. "So I'm moving in there." He now pointed at the crystal. "House warming party tomorrow!" He yelled out, oblivious to the fact that AncientVolcamon stood behind him.

"Dead ahead Volca." AncientGreymon whispered into AncientVolcamon's ear.

Said Ancient flexed his right leg a few times and then…

"Aaaaaghhhhhhhh!!" AncientSphinxmon was launched. "Going, going, going, gone!!" AncientGreymon yelled out as the Ancient of darkness flew into his new place. After a few seconds a _'thump'_ was heard.

"I warned him, didn't I?" AncientVolcamon laughed.

* * *

"So now we can finally go on with our lives." Sora said. "For a month or two at least." Matt chuckled a bit at that joke.

"I have to turn what happened here into lyrics." Matt said. "The rest of the band has been bugging for them anyway."

Sora smiled. "You think Tai will come back?"

"Off course he will." Matt scowled. "He's to damn stubborn to stay dead, remember?"

* * *

Meanwhile somewhere else on File Island.

"Not again!" Elecmon sighed as he looked at the huge pile of Digi-eggs. "This is going to take forever."

"I need an assistent. Or two, maybe three." He mumbled.

Elecmon stared at the pile again and sighed. "Well, no time like the present." He picked up a random egg and rubbed it.

It moved around a bit before bursting into a cloud of smoke.

"Welcome back to the Digital World…Wait a minute…" Elecmon looked at the tiny Puyomon. "You still owe me five Digi-dollars!"

Puyomon just jumped out of Elecmon's grasp and made a run for it. "Get back here Ogremon!"

The newly reconfigured Ogremon hopped away even faster.

At the same time two Digi-eggs waited, at the bottom of the pile. One white with a few specks of orange and one as black as the night.

The end…for now.

* * *

(Imagine 'Exitlude' from the Killers playing in the back-ground)

Well people. It's all over. I hope you had as much fun reading this story as I did writing it. I'd like to thank each and every one of my reviewers and readers.

I'm going to focus on other stories for now but I'll probably write a sequel sooner or later. So please don't kill me.

Reviews

Coppa-Cola: read above ;)

Martiny the one and only still: sequel will come, so don't worry to much

Super Garurumon: yeah and I don enjoy cliff-hangers in all my stories. Just look above again

Depthmon: but then there would be no sequel ;)

Lord Pata: I hope you like the scene between the two of them (I'm really bad at anything romantic though)

Firehedgehog: thank you and call me Ron

Smoochynose: indeed

Beth: that'll show up sooner or later. And no, I don't plan on using Milleniummon any time soon. And you'll learn more about Tai's baby form when the sequel is up.

Anime25: Yes there'll be one but it might take a while.

And now the mushy stuff: I dedicate this story to my grandfather. He showed me that life should be lived while you still have the chance to do so.

Later people!!


End file.
